by Daco
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Blue Arrow miraculously rose and expanded into a vast blue cloud. He enveloped the frozen mass and carried it upward, setting it down on the frozen tundra of Great Kensington Peak.
“Now who’s the Popsicle?” Electromancer shouted at Momo’s hideaway.
Blue Arrow shifted shape into his humanlike form and hovered next to Electromancer. They both looked down at Momo’s fortress. They’d neutralized his major weapon, true. But there was no way to get through his defenses, the powerful force field.
“Any ideas?” Blue Arrow asked.
“Not a one.”
• • •
While Electromancer and Blue Arrow waited helplessly outside his fortress, Montgomery “Momo” Manchester, with the help of Professor Slipter and The Momaxita henchmen and technicians, was sending out spikes of crippling electricity to every major power station in the world. One by one, the facilities were shutting down.
“Hurry, you fool!” Momo shouted maniacally. “We need to finish this before my blasted niece figures out a way to breach our defenses.”
“Impossible!” Professor Slipter said. “The force field is invulnerable.”
“Oh is it, now? You claimed that Electromancer would be imprisoned for eternity in frozen nitrogen and that Red Web was indestructible. Now look where we are, you bumbler.”
“Don’t panic, Momo,” Professor Slipter said.
Momo slapped Professor Slipter across the head and then wiped his hand on his handkerchief. “I never panic, you fool.”
Professor Slipter backed away in fear but continued sending out the high voltage weapons of terror.
In truth, though, Momo had panicked. He’d underestimated his niece badly. His brother Mickey had been stubborn and smart like her, but he’d never been quite as resourceful. How had she escaped? How had she overpowered Red Web? What else was she capable of?
“Faster, Slipter,” Momo said.
Professor Slipter worked frantically, loading and reloading, calibrating and recalibrating. City by city, the world was falling into complete darkness. Before long, the entire planet would be devoid of electricity. Next, Momo would begin building his capital city, Momaxitopia, where all the world’s leaders would pay him tribute and homage. Endless riches, endless gourmet meals, endless parties with beautiful women, all coming from every corner of the globe. Anyone who wanted to survive would have to bow down to him, and to him alone.
• • •
Now on the ground at the border of Momo’s force field, Blue Arrow and Electromancer watched helplessly as Momo fired off bolts of electricity. He’d threatened to destroy the power grids across the globe, and now he was evidently carrying out his threat. They made several attempts to breach the force field, all to no avail. There was no way in.
Out of nowhere, something flew toward them. The sky was dark, so all they saw was a fuzzy white object with two glowing green orbs at its center.
“What is that?” Blue Arrow asked.
Electromancer sat up. “I have no idea.”
A moment later, the winged object landed and meowed loudly.
“Miss Marbletop?” Electromancer asked. “It can’t be.”
The cat meowed again.
Electromancer reached a hand to stroke the cat.
“She must’ve come in contact with Electromite,” Blue Arrow said. “How?”
Suddenly, the cat half leaped and half flew toward the force field.
“No!” Electromancer shrieked, certain that the electrified boundary would send the poor animal to its death.
But Miss Marbletop stopped, hovered above the ground, and used a paw to scratch at the impenetrable boundary. To Electromancer’s relief, the cat seemed fine.
“Come on,” Electromancer said to Blue Arrow. “I’ve got an idea.”
Chapter 27
In half a shake ...
Miss Marbletop had already landed and was digging at the force field’s boundary when Electromancer and Blue Arrow reached her.
“My thoughts exactly,” Electromancer said to Miss Marbletop. She looked at Blue Arrow. “Is digging a tunnel among your powers?”
The Blue Arrow nodded. “Sometimes the old-fashioned approach is the best one.”
Electromancer shot bolts of electricity through the small holes that Miss Marbletop had dug, expanding the tunnel. Blue Arrow shot his vapor, which melded with the rocks and created a roof and floor. Before long, the three of them had crawled through the tunnel and under the force field. Now inside the force field, Electromancer walked to the inner boundary. She raised a hand and slowly reached out.
“Just as I thought,” she said, sliding a hand through the force field. “A one-way street. But now we can get out, because we’re going in the direction of traffic.”
She and Blue Arrow covered the tunnel, just in case.
“Let’s go,” Blue Arrow said, beginning his transformation into a cloud.
Electromancer took his arm while she still could and said, “On foot. We can’t afford to be seen.”
He nodded.
When they reached Momo’s hideout, she said, “We go through the dome and retrieve the Electromite. And hopefully slip out before anyone knows the better.” She stroked Miss Marbletop’s fur. “You go home,” she said to the cat. “I don’t want you to get hurt. You understand me?”
“She doesn’t speak; she flies,” Blue Arrow said.
The cat only purred and flew back toward the mansion.
Electromancer and Blue Arrow searched the perimeter, expecting to find The Momaxita thugs guarding the fortress. They encountered no one. Her uncle’s arrogance, Electromancer thought—he didn’t believe that anything or anyone could penetrate the force field. Besides, he probably had all his people working inside to destroy the world.
They located a small sliver of space where the dome opened and closed. Electromancer slipped through as a spark of electricity, and Blue Arrow went in as a wisp of smoke. They changed back into human form and descended to the laboratory floor. The lab was dimly lit and humming with low-level mechanical noise. There was no one in sight.
“Where do you think they keep the Electromite?” Blue Arrow asked.
She pointed at The Big Zapper. “My guess is inside this monstrosity. In fact, I know it because I feel the Electromite drawing me to it, like a magnet.”
She walked to The Big Zapper and opened a compartment.
“Bingo,” she said.
Blue Arrow reached inside and pulled out the superconductive ceramic casing that held the Electromite. Electromancer took the Electromite and secured it on her back, letting it meld with her body.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said.
“What about Momo?”
“We have to secure the Electromite.”
She nodded. “I have to open the dome so I can get the Electromite through.”
Electromancer hurried to the control panel, and just as she reached for the switch to open the hatch, the overhead lights turned on, almost blinding them. Momo and his henchmen were standing at the door.
“You really thought you could slip in here and get away that easily?” Momo said. “Oh no, Niece. We were waiting for you.”
“How’d you know that I’d even get through the force field?” Electromancer asked.
“You’re a resourceful girl. I couldn’t leave anything to chance.”
“Come on, Blue Arrow,” she cried and then bolted to the top of the dome. She’d melt it to get through if she had to. But when she reached the top, she only encountered another force field. And then Professor Slipter turned on a magnetic ray gun, trapping her. Electromancer struggled to free herself but couldn’t.
“Get him,” Momo shouted, pointing at Blue Arrow, who was now a cloud.
Another assistant turned on the supersonic vacuum attached to a glasslike canister and sucked up the blue cloud in a snap, trapping Blue Arrow inside of it. He corked the top.
“Open the door,” Momo cried to another
assistant.
The assistant raced to a door, which led into a room lined with metal walls that were highly charged with magnetic energy. Electromancer could feel the inexorable forces inside the room pulling at her. Soon, she was inside the room, where she immediately stuck to the wall. The assistant flipped another switch, and the door slammed shut.
“No!” she cried.
When she was sure she was alone, Electromancer smiled. With all her strength, she freed a hand from the magnetic wall, pulled the Electromite from behind her platinum suit, held the mineral at her shoulders, and sent a surge of electricity through it, causing the Electromite to melt over her body and form a protective covering. Although the liquefied rock might kill any other living creature, it didn’t kill her—after all, she was, in part, made of Electromite. The new suit of armor increased her power and energy exponentially. She easily pulled her body away from the magnetic walls, broke through the galvanized steel walls, and landed inside the laboratory just in time to see Momo zapping one of his assistants in his mad search for his missing Electromite. Only it wasn’t his Electromite. It belonged to the world, to be used for the good of all mankind, just as Mickey had promised.
Electromancer kicked the jar that entrapped Blue Arrow and watched it shatter against the wall. Blue Arrow expanded a bit but was only a wisp of vapor. Then he mutated to his human form but lay on the floor, unconscious.
Professor Slipter pointed the electron deactivator at Electromancer. What Professor Slipter didn’t understand was that her energy could not be destroyed. Electromancer sent a bolt of electricity at him. Professor Slipter tried to use the weapon as a shield, but she sent a more powerful bolt that incinerated the device. Professor Slipter screamed, the flesh on his hands smoking. Electromancer looked at Momo, who now had terror in his eyes. He sent a ray from his proton screwdriver at her, but she deflected it toward the ceiling with ease.
“I could’ve just killed you, Uncle,” she said. “But I’m not like you. You’re going to face justice.”
There was a groan in the corner. Electromancer glanced at Blue Arrow. He still wasn’t moving, and now he had turned part humanoid, part cloud. And the cloud was rapidly dissipating, as if Blue Arrow’s soul were leaving his body. He looked at her with sad eyes.
Professor Slipter hurried across the room, weapon in hand, and pressed a button on the wall. Another door opened, an escape hatch. Inside was a vehicle that must’ve come from some unknown world. Momo and Professor Slipter made for the vehicle. Electromancer was about to send a powerful bolt their way, but it would kill them, and she’d vowed that there would be no more death. To kill would only make her like her uncle. She started to go after them, but she couldn’t. It was capture Momo or save Blue Arrow.
Electromancer hurried to Blue Arrow.
“Tell me what to do,” she said.
Momo’s supersonic rocket engines fired up, and the craft soon launched into orbit without so much as a puff of smoke.
“There’s nothing,” he said in Sigfred’s voice. “I love you, my dearest Alexa.”
Tears streamed down Alexa’s face. “You can’t leave me, Sigfred. Not after we’ve come so far.”
She bent down to give him a last kiss, the ultimate goodbye, but it was too late. Blue Arrow had dissipated into a blue wisp of fog.
In those final moments, she could almost hear him singing the words, “With a heart as pure as platinum, electricity at her fingertips, she soars like a falcon and travels at the speed of light. She’s Electromancer.” Then, his voice fading, “The only woman I’ve ever loved.”
“Don’t leave me, don’t go,” she sobbed. But it was too late.
There was no response.
Oh no! She had to do something, she couldn’t lose him! Alexa had to stop this somehow.
No, not Alexa—Electromancer.
Instantaneously, she zipped over to the supersonic vacuum that had captured Blue Arrow and quickly reversed its polarization. Instead of sucking in particles, it began emitting them. Only these were more than particles, these were Blue Arrow’s intoxicating vapor, his life force. Before long, the vacuum was empty, and the expelled vapor had recombined with the azure cloud, restoring all the life back to Blue Arrow. He soon stood before her in his human form, dazed but smiling.
“I thought I was done for,” he said. “How did ...?” He shook his head as if to clear the fog in his brain.
“I rescued you this time, love. You see, I will always be your protector, as you are mine.”
She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, and she could feel that his life force was stronger than it had ever been before.
He suddenly pulled away. “Momo? Slipter?”
“We’ll get them next time. I had something more important to do.” She flashed a wry smile. “Good servants are hard to find.”
“It’s time to go home, Ms. Manchester,” he said, grinning back. “May I get your car?”
“Who needs a car?” Electromancer said. “And besides, we have unfinished business to take care of.” She embraced Blue Arrow, and together they ascended into the pristine night sky, where they made love at the speed of light as they circled the globe, reigniting energy around the world.
Chapter 28
One week later ...
Chef Yurdlemon stood at the head of the table situated outside on the veranda and revealed his pièce de résistance, Kobe beef tenderloin with fennel, radishes, and parsnips in an Almas caviar and balsamic reduction. Alexa was holding a Saturday night dinner party alfresco for her newest and dearest friends: Mayor Baumgartner, Chief Constable Pete Petaud, Henrietta Hensinger (wearing her finest black evening hat bedecked with rhinestones, ostrich feathers, and a tassel of grosgrain ribbons), Conroy Corn, Dr. Charles Chin, and Zachary Zero. And of course, Gladys and Sigfred, her family.
They had their glasses raised in the fourth toast of the night, all of them drinking a superb St. Emilion that Chef Yurdlemon had been saving in the Manchester wine cellar—all except Zachary Zero, who was drinking sparkling water from a hidden source far up in the Mullgany Mountains.
“To Zachary,” Mayor Baumgartner said. “To his pardon and his reinstatement as Kensington City’s Comptroller based on his heroism in saving Alexa Manchester, who, despite her continued refusal to reaccept my hand in marriage, will always be my heart’s desire.” The Mayor smiled at Alexa, who smiled back. In the past week, she’d refused The Mayor’s hand in marriage at least thirty-five times and had insisted that he send no more flowers lest she tell Henrietta Hensinger that he was defoliating the entire region. When she’d broken the news that his gold had been irretrievably lost in the battle against Momo and Momaxita, he’d only shrugged. He did make one quite puzzling request, though—as compensation for the loss of the gold, he asked that Alexa send him a daily supply of vegetables from Chef Yurdlemon’s garden, raw and unseasoned. Even blades of grass would do, he’d said.
After they’d raised their glasses to Zachary Zero, Mr. Corn hollered, “Speech! Speech!”
Zero blushed.
“Speech, speech!” Mr. Corn repeated.
“Oh, hush up, Corny,” Miss Hensinger said. “And take your hand off my knee this instant.” She smiled at Zero. “But we would like to hear you speak, Zachary.”
Perhaps out of habit, Zero said, “Yes, Miss Hensinger, right away.” He stood up. “Thanks to you all. It’s a great feeling to get out of the Sugar Express Train Depot and back on the wagon.” He turned to Mayor Baumgartner. “I want to thank you, Boss, for—”
The Mayor shook his head in disapproval.
Zero flinched, and said, “I want to thank The Mayor for asking the Prime Minister to pardon me, and Miss Hensinger for allowing me to get my old job back by encouraging my successor and predecessor, Nathan Nil, to step aside. I’m also happy to say that the city funding for rehabilitation of the Sugar Express Train Depot will be sufficient to restore the landmark and make it the showcase of Kensington City and all of Britannia.”
; Everyone applauded.
“On a more serious note,” Zero continued, “I want to take this opportunity to apologize to Mayor Baumgartner for taking a few pot shots at him while he was talking to persons who shall remain nameless outside the Sugar Express Train Depot a number of days ago when I thought that vandals were trying to uproot Miss Hensinger’s secret stash of daisy and geranium seeds.”
Mayor Baumgartner stood, his eyes bugging out. “That was you, Zero? You could’ve killed me!”
“Oh, come on, Boss,” Zero said. “I was snockered to the gills. I couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.”
“Constable, arrest this man!” The Mayor said to Chief Petaud.
Alexa wanted to laugh, but in a serious tone, said, “Oh, Bobby, we’re past that. No one’s going to arrest anyone.”
“They certainly are not,” Miss Hensinger said. “Zachary was protecting my investment. And you, Mayor, deserved a bit of buckshot in your hind quarters for what you were going to do.”
The Mayor gave Alexa a sheepish look and sat down.
Just then, there was shouting from the kitchen, and the Dowdy twins walked out onto the veranda, adorned in identical short, low-cut little black cocktail dresses. Chef Yurdlemon came in and said, “Ms. Manchester, I could not stop them!”
“Sorry we’re late, dear,” Della Dowdy said to Alexa.
“Not at all,” Alexa said, though the Dowdy twins hadn’t been invited. These women clearly had radar.
“May we get seats on either side of The Mayor?” Dani Dowdy said, already fawning over a surprisingly receptive Bobby Baumgartner.
“Of course,” Alexa said. “I’m sure he’d be delighted.”
And he certainly seemed to be.
They conversed throughout the night about the future of their city and themselves. Only Alexa and Sigfred kept silent about their plans. Alexa knew that the world was safe only for a little while, because Momo and others like him were unrelenting in their quest for power. There were always new, impossible problems to solve—like how to span dimensions and find her father, whom, she was sure, continued to watch over her from wherever he was.
