Part 24 (1/2)
”Tee-” she gasped. ”Tee hee-”
”She's been shot!” Delores yelled.
Dee Dee/Captain Crusader nodded as she swayed back and forth, both hands over her wound.
”Remember,” she replied between clenched teeth, ”a bullet takes-only a minute, but a-friend is yours-for life.” She toppled forward, onto the sand.
Doctor Dread and Menge the Merciless, now in their more traditional bad guy costumes, stepped forward from the crowd.
”Menge, that shot was”-Dread paused triumphantly- ”excellent. How easily they fell for our little”-this time he simultaneously paused and gloated-”ruse.”Menge's reply was more to the point: ”Ah hahahaha. Ah hahahaha!”
^ ^ 18 ^ ^
”THE FATEFUL MOMENT!”.
Captain Crusader? Shot?
Roger realized at last that this must be the life-or-death situation the Plotmaster had spoken of!
”You'll pay for this!” Roger shouted with upraised fist.
”He's beginning to sound like a hero,” Menge replied smoothly. ”Righteous indignation with absolutely no originality whatsoever.”
”Kill!” Zabana yelled with jungle-bred determination.
”Pitiful fools!” Menge crowed. ”You will, of course, permit us to gloat over our accomplishments.”
”Shoot!” Doc staggered to his feet as he pulled his six-gun and tried to sober himself to the task at hand.
”How-clever of us,” Dread agreed smugly. ”To seemingly disappear, only to- reposition ourselves!”
”Arrest!” Officer O'Clanrahan pulled a nightstick and handcuffs free from his belt.
”And wait for the moment when you hopeless do-gooders revealed the one person who might have stopped us!” Menge smirked.
”Arf!” Dwight agreed with his fellows, animal bloodl.u.s.t in his eyes.
”And now we have stopped-Captain Crusader.” Dread chortled unpleasantly. ”What do you say to that?”
”Slime!” Edward chorused, the sand-covered monster having the last word on the subject.
Delores stepped forward, and waved for the rest to follow her. She shouted her defiance to Dread and Menge: ”Now that you've shot Captain Crusader, everybody's going to be after you!”
”It is your death!” Zabana agreed.
”Well, maybe,” Dread allowed, ”-if we planned to stick around.”
The blue smoke exploded around them.
”See you in the funny papers”-Dread hesitated with finality-”if we don't remove you first!”And they were gone.
Roger knelt by Dr. Dee Dee Davenport.
”You really are Captain Crusader?”
She clutched her stomach as she grimaced in pain. Her bright green bikini was turning brown with blood. She nodded.
”Yes, I am the Captain.”
”But why didn't you tell me?”
”I did tell you,” she replied. ”When you pointed the Ring of Truth at me. And then I changed the subject. The Ring of Truth does work, you know-at least for getting people to tell the truth. It's not that good for getting around the Cineverse, though.”
She took a shuddery breath. ”A lot of things aren't working as well around here as they used to.”
”You deceived me!” Roger exclaimed. ”But why?”
Captain Crusader shrugged her shapely shoulders. ”A hero has to be-flexible in times like these. Besides, you had to learn how to-be a hero, too.”
The others gathered around Roger and the Captain.
”Dread gone,” Zabana explained.
”Captain Crusader?” Louie asked. ”How bad is-”
Dee Dee tried to smile, but the pain was all too evident. She took another ragged breath.
”I can last-for another page or two. I have to-to tell you everything you need to know.” She reached out and weakly patted Roger's hand. ”Your coming to the Cineverse-that was partly my doing, you know. We needed someone from outside, someone who could see beyond the separate movie worlds, someone who could work by my side. Too bad it came-too late.”
”It may not be too late!” Roger insisted. ”Maybe we can get help.”
Dee Dee shook her head. ”No-I'm a goner. That's one of the things that a hero always knows. Forgive me-for not showing myself to you sooner, but you had to learn how to control the Cineverse-like you learned how to control the Cowabunga- munga!”
She coughed then, covering her mouth with her hand. When she stopped, there was a discreet amount of blood on her palm.
”Captain Crusader?” Officer O'Clanrahan wailed, beside himself with grief. ”Dying?””What'll we do now?” Doc chorused.
”I may be dying,” Dee Dee agreed, ”but there'll always be a Captain Crusader. It's one of the Laws of the Cineverse.” She looked up at the man from Earth, her bright blue eyes alive with purpose. ”Now, Roger, it'll have to be you.”
”Me?” Roger objected. ”But-”
”I'm sorry-but you have no choice.” She clenched her teeth as she s.h.i.+vered with pain. ”It is too bad-that I did not have the time-to properly train you. But you are the only one here-with the proper raw materials-the only one-who can stand up to Doctor Dread.”
Her eyelids fluttered. ”Take my hand, Roger. It's getting dark!”
Roger did as she asked.
”Remember,” she said, her voice barely a whisper, ”a song-in your heart-and a smile on-your lips-keeps Old Man-Trouble-away.”