Bubblegum Crisis
Batman: The Animated Series
S M I L E
A tale of knights, past and present.
--------------------------
Part 4: Descent
--------------------------
I'm your boogie man
That's what I am
I'm here to do
Whatever I can
Be it early morning
Late afternoon
Midnight
It's never too soon
- KC & The Sunshine Band, "Boogie Man"
:)
[Somewhere in MegaTokyo, early morning]
Oh, that WAS a rousing performance last night. Yeeeees,
indeed it was. Nothing like a night at the opera to make a
guy feel good, yeah?
Ah, well, that was yesterday. Time for something new.
A pale face looked in a cracked mirror. Thin red lips
grinned madly.
"Where do you want to go today?" he asked himself.
Somewhere in his mind, wheels began to turn. A murder?
Arson? Maybe a little of both? Defacing property, perhaps?
A prank on the mayor?
Well... how about good old fashioned bank robbery?
Ah, yes, it said to itself. A timeless classic.
Bank robbery. Let's do it.
And a little murder on the side would be nice too.
Wait, just a little murder?
"Oh, what the heck. Let's do it all!"
:)
It was supposed to be Leon's lunch break.
//THIS IS THE A.D. POLICE!//
The day so far was a real joyride, starting with the chair
and small table on the third floor of the N-Police station
that was designated as his desk until A.D. Police
headquarters was rebuilt.
//DROP YOUR WEAPONS!//
Add to that wonderful situation the stress of being in a
building that was now holding twice as many people than it
was designed for. The N-Police building, thought Leon,
_really_ sucked.
//AND COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!//
And so he stepped out for lunch, to a small little beefbowl
stand. A simple thing, right? Unfortunately, that's when
the alarm at the bank across the street went off. The
possibility of it being a small-scale robbery was killed
when a passing car was struck with some unknown weaponry and
blown several blocks away by the blast.
Break or no break, duty was duty, so he called it in and
three minutes later the police were on the scene, five squad
cars, ten men total, with a truck of ADPolice grunts on
the way.
It was an awful lot to throw at one robber.
The perp or perps was/were allegedly well-armed.
The police were in a bad mood anyway.
He hoped he could leave it to the others. Unfortunately, he
was the highest ranking officer on the scene, and he didn't
particularly trust the N-Police to do this right anyway.
"Oh yeah, just what my day needs," grumbled Leon. He
sighed, got back into his car, and grabbed the police radio.
"Detective McNichols here, Tinseltown Bank robbery. Where's
that ADP team? It's been five goddamn minutes."
//They're en route, Detective.//
"Yeah yeah, I heard that five minutes ago."
//You'll just have to wait. Sorry.//
"Shit."
There was a sudden commotion among the cops, causing Leon to
look up. From the front of the massive glass doors emerged
a man in a suit, a bank worker, no doubt. Leon couldn't
hear what the man was saying, but he was clearly panicked.
His hands were raised up frantically, indicating he was
unarmed, and running to the police line. Reading the man's
lips, Leon could tell he was screaming 'HELP ME' repeatedly.
This, thought Leon, was good. They were releasing hostages.
Odd, why was the man laughing?
And then the hostage blew up.
It wasn't just a hand grenade sort of explosion. It was an
earth-shaking shockwave, causing the windows of the
buildings for a block around to shatter. The officers that
were surrounding the blast didn't have a chance to scream as
the blast slammed into them. Leon's windshield, built to be
bullet-proof and especially resilient, cracked from the
force of the explosion.
Leon's senses were jarred badly as the blinding flash of
light and deafening roar of the explosion struck him. His
car was lifted and turned over, shaking him around like a
rag doll.
Dazed and sore, Leon slowly began to crawl out from the
wreckage. In the distance, despite his ringing ears, he
thought he heard maniacal laughter.
;)
[Fuji Lounge, Tinsel City, noon]
"Gruesome way to go," said Nene solemnly.
"He was just... I mean..." Linna sniffled, took a deep
breath, then sighed. "The police have any idea who it was
yet?"
Nene shook her head. "Whoever that was, he doesn't have a
record. Only thing matching is a psycho in Gotham, the
Joker, and he died a long time ago."
"Some copycat psycho. Great."
"He hit a bank this morning too," said Nene with a grim
professional tone. "Used several pounds of plastique and
strapped them to a hostage, then sent him to the police.
Twelve officers were killed, two hospitalized. Leon's one
of them."
"Leon? Is he..."
"He's fine," said Nene. "He got a few bruises and cuts, but
I think that's the worst of it. He got lucky because he was
in his car when the bomb went off."
"Great, Toshi was the start of a trend," said Linna darkly.
"At least his face wasn't... like the bank robbery
victims."
"Hm?"
Nene shuddered. "I've never seen anything like it.
Everyone in the bank was dead, but they had this terrible
smile... I don't know how to describe it."
"This guy's sick."
"Real sick."
Linna narrowed her eyes. "Makes me wish I could suit up
and-"
"Against the rules," said Nene wistfully.
"Yeah, I know," grumbled Linna. "Doesn't mean I have to
like it."
"Mmm." Nene looked at Linna for a moment, totally silent.
"What?"
"You're becoming Priss," said Nene.
"I know, I know."
The silence that followed was terribly awkward for Nene, who
wasn't sure what at all should be said. Linna didn't seem
overwhelmingly upset, which was good. Then again, she was
being disturbingly quiet.
"You sure you're okay?" she asked cautiously.
For a moment, she thought Linna didn't hear her. The
former dancer just continued staring out the window for a
moment more in silence. Then, finally, she nodded.
"I guess it is shock," said Linna. "Should I be crying?
Guess I should, though I didn't really know him."
The two remained in glum silence for a while, one in no mood
to talk and the other unsure of what to say. Finally, Nene
spoke again, but with a more cheerful sound.
"Oh! Priss is picking up Sho-chan from the airport today!"
"Is that so?" asked Linna, smiling faintly. "It'll be nice
to see him again. What time'll he be here?"
"In a couple of hours, I think. Five or six."
:)
On the highways of Megatokyo, a sound was heard buzzing by,
a brief moment of noise.
It sounded like this:
"AAAAAAAAaaaaagggh...."
It was the sound of a boy yelling, primarily because the
motorcycle he was currently riding was going well over the
speed limit. It didn't help that he still felt queasy from
the airplane flight into town either.
"Priss! C-can you slow down a little!" yelled Sho, clinging
on to Priss in a death grip.
"Hey, you used to love my driving!"
"I don't remember you driving this fast!"
"Heyo, bump in the road!"
"What?!?!"
-bump-
"Waaaaah!"
:)
A moment later, with a moment of rest at a gas station and
burger joint, Sho had recovered sufficiently enough to smile
again. He and Priss sat in one of the hundreds of fast food
joints shadowed by the towers of MegaTokyo nearby.
"How's Nene an' Linna an' the rest of'em?" asked Sho.
"We'll meet up with them a little later," answered Priss.
"You still got a crush on Linna? Eh?"
Sho blushed furiously. "I did NOT have a crush on Linna!"
"Suuuure you don't," teased Priss, elbowing him.
"Priiiiiss!"
Priss laughed raised her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay,
I'll stop."
Sho gave Priss a final scowl just to make the matter clear
and final, then blinked and looked off into the distance
with a puzzled expression.
"Hey, what's that?" he asked.
Across the street, in a large vacant parking lot, a small
carnival was taking place. Circus wheels and
merry-go-rounds spun lazily in the rays of the setting sun.
The sound of children's laughter could be heard in the air.
"Hey, can we have a look at that?" asked Sho.
Priss eyed the mini-carnival warily. She never did like
carnies. Bike gangs, rowdies, punks, and lawyers she could
tolerate, in varying degrees, but not carnies. They gave
her the creeps.
"I dunno..."
"C'mon, please?"
"They don't look that solid, those rides."
Sho frowned. "You're just spooked by carnies."
"I am not!"
:)
The clouds overhead and violent winds promised of violent
rains to come on this early morning, but this failed to
deter Sylia Stingray.
She'd come to the lair of her pursuit, and a certain rush in
her veins had told her to press onward.
Wayne Manor, once a proud landmark of Gotham, was now in
ruins. Vines and other foliage had overrun the place and
choked the gates shut. Only by climbing over the perimeter
wall was she able to enter the grounds.
In the distance, the long abandoned manor sat. It loomed,
like a giant in slumber, holding the secrets she'd crossed
the world to pursue. Sylia wondered if the house had been
vandalized. After all, it'd been unoccupied for about three
decades now.
She waded in the tall grass, occasionally covering her face
from the powerful gusts of wind. At last, after struggling
through the tangled greens and violent winds, she came to a
stop near a statue of two people.
Curious, she examined it.
THOMAS AND MARTHA WAYNE
IN LOVING MEMORY
Ah, the parents of Bruce Wayne. She paused in somber
reflection, knowing all too well how the loss of parents
could shatter a life.
A little further, yet another landmark rested. She made
her way to that one and read the inscription.
TIM DRAKE
1983 - 2000
REST IN PEACE
One of Wayne's two wards, she recalled. Killed as a teen
from unmentioned circumstances, according to the papers.
She wondered how that death affected Wayne. Did it drive
him mad? Did it numb him to life? Or did he grieve briefly
and throw another gala?
She pressed onward, until at last she was at the once
majestic front doors of the manor. Time and nature had
taken its toll on the structure, peeling away paint and
invading with vines and weeds. Even the mocking touch of
man contributed to the defacing of this grand manor, with
obscene grafitti and other marks.
Odd as it seemed, the manor was sealed tight. The doors,
despite their appearance, held fast and solid. The windows
were sealed with brick. She considered climbing the roof to
see if the chimneys were a viable option, but suspected that
those were sealed as well.
Well, she thought to herself, what now?
:)
"I'm a sucker," she muttered to herself. Priss still felt
uncomfortable, but at least Sho seemed to have a good time.
"What was that?" asked Sho.
"Nothing, never mind. You ready to go?"
"Lemme get some cotton candy, first. Okay?"
"Yeah, sure, go ahead."
She watched as he ran over to the cotton candy vendor, a
purple-suited grinning clown, joining a short line of
enthusiastic kids. She paced around idly, always keeping an
eye on Sho every now and then while surveying the crowd. As
her gaze passed by the fountain drink stand, Priss caught
sight of a somewhat pudgy, bearded, mildly grouchy face.
"Hey! Pigbog!"
"Don't call me Pigb-... Priss?"
"Hey, you big fat freak!" yelled Priss cheerfully. "What
the hell are you doing here? Haven't seen you since the
biker days!"
The rather brutish man managed to look a little embarrassed.
"Well, hey, guy's gotta make a living, y'know? How'bout
you? Heard you been making noise in the club circut."
"Yeah, well..."
And so it went that Priss and Pigbog got around to
reminiscing, as adults who've got a bit past their prime
tend to do.
And as all kids tended to do, Sho waited around as best as
he could, but eventually got bored and started wandering
aimlessly about the place.
Meanwhile, in the air around them, the sound of children's
laughter continued.
:)
/* Stingray's. Leave a message after the beep*/
-BEEP-
//It's me. Something big has come up, something with Genom
that I think you'll have an interest in. They've found
Largo class boomers hidden in major Genom sites. So far,
Genom Metropolis, Genom Opal City, Genom Austin, and Genom
Hawaii have found them. Fortunately, they're all just empty
shells.//
//Unfortunately, that's not the worst of the news. Largo
might be loose again. That's the rumor around these days,
anyway. Sources say that a fully operational Largo class
boomer was found in the Genom Development Center the day
before it was destroyed. That boomer may have been
activated.//
//No official word from the top, but Genom security is on
red alert.//
//Where are you anyway? It's unusual for you to be out of
touch this long. Hope big bad Gotham didn't throw a nasty
surprise at you.//
//If anything else important comes up and you're not around,
I'll go ahead and notify your second as agreed. I've
already left her a vidmail with the information I just gave
you.//
//Get in touch when you hear this message, okay? Fargo
out.//
:)
"And so Gaffer said-" began Pigbog on yet another trip down
memory lane, when he was suddenly interrupted by a scream.
Priss whirled around to the source of the scream. "What
the-"
The sound of tearful wails rang out once more, urging Priss
to rush to the scene. She only had to take a few steps,
however, before seeing what was wrong.
Her voice trembling, her knees weak, Priss looked at Pigbog.
"Jesus Christ... Pigbog, call 119."
Pigbog ran to the nearest pay phone, leaving Priss in the
alone with the sight of dozens of children, some twitching
hideously on the ground and giggling weakly, others cold and
still, a hideous grin savagely twisting their faces.
In the distance, sirens wailed as they raced to the scene.
Who did this? What kind of sick monster did-
An analytical part of her mind quietly pointed out a
peculiar fact. Each child had, clutched in their dying
grip, cotton candy.
Sho.
Oh no.
"Sho! Where are you! Sho!"
Please, God, not him. Not him. He's been through so much
already, it's not fair!
"Sho! Where the hell are you?! Sho!"
She raced through the carnival, through the parking lot,
searching frantically as she went. With every dead child
her heart stopped, and she felt a guilty sort of relief when
that child wasn't Sho.
The bike! He'd go to the bike!
She ran frantically to her bike, then nearly collapsed in
exhaustion and relief when she saw the boy leaning idly
against her bike.
"Sho!"
She ran to him and embraced him tightly, tears in her eyes
and thanking God that nothing had happened.
"Oh, thank God you're okay. Oh jeez, oh man, Sho, you had
me scared there, kid."
He looked at her oddly. "You okay, Priss?"
She smiled. "Yeah, just fine."
Priss released Sho from the embrace and sat down on the
floor with a tired expression on her face as the adrenaline
left her system.
"Hey, Priss. What's with the sirens? I see a bunch of cop
cars'n ambulances coming." He took a few steps to see what
was going on, when Priss' hand took firm hold of his own.
"_Don't_," she said firmly.
"But-"
"You don't wanna see it, Sho. Trust me."
"Oh, okay."
Priss remained sitting on the floor, next to her bike,
taking deep breaths of the cool evening air. She blinked
idly as the wind blew an empty cotton candy cone by.
And then Sho began to giggle.
Priss blinked. "What's so funny, kid?"
And the giggle became a laugh.
"Sho?"
And the laugh became hysterical.
"SHO!"
;)
[Gotham]
Having decided that nothing further would be gained that
day, at least not without some industrial strength
construction tools, Sylia began the long walk back to her
car, making her way once more through high grass and uneven
terrain.
Halfway to the wall, as she walked over a hill, the ground
under her shuddered with a muffled crackling noise and gave
way slightly. For a moment, Sylia nearly lost her balance,
then stepped away safely to see what she'd stepped on.
Through the new hole in the ground, Sylia could see a
splintered plank, one of several buried slightly below the
surface. She carefully pried at the broken timber, until it
snapped lose and fell into the dark hole below.
She waited to hear the sound of the wood hitting some sort
of surface. She waited a bit longer than she thought she
would.
"Odd," she muttered. Sylia pulled out a pocket flashlight
and shone it down below. As she peered within, something
stared back.
-squeek-
"Hm?"
With an irritated screech, something small and black shot
out, grazing Sylia's face and speeding into the cloudy
skies.
"What the..."
Something in the dark rustled, lots of something. The sound
grew in intensity, rising up from below. With a burst of
noise and a rush of wind, the sky was obscured by a massive,
black swarm. Sylia raised an arm over her face and watched
as a seemingly endless storm of bats flew above her and into
the sky, some from the small hole she'd found, but mostly
from the other side of the hill.
Well. That was... surprising.
Curiosity tugging at her, she searched around the other end
of the hill until finally discovering a small opening in the
earth, a cave entrance that she would barely be able to
squeeze into.
Her curious nature took over, and Sylia advanced slowly into
the cave. With miniature flashlight in hand, she slowly
made her way into the cave. A few meters within, it was
becoming apparent that further progress would be difficult.
She'd stopped when it was apparent that further progress
would have to be on hands and knees.
She would have given up, and was about to, when her
searchlight had caught something interesting. Deep into the
crawl-space, there was a wall. It almost looked like a
natural wall, except for the shiny bits of metal that were
reflecting her light.
That was definitely out of place.
She crawled to the man-made barricade, examining it
carefully. At her touch, more of it crumbled, falling
backwards.
The sound of the pieces of artificial wall crashing against
an unseen floor in the darkness beyond was rather curious,
mainly because it finally echoed quite a while after of
waiting. There had to be a large cavern within, just beyond
the wall. Either that, or one really narrow deep hole.
Sylia crawled further, until she was able to peer into the
darkness.
The darkness turned out to be a very impressive chasm,
descending into endless darkness. Across the chasm,
however, was something far more interesting: a steel girder
walkway, twisting further into the darkness.
:)
Dead. Dead. Dead. The fuckin'sonovabitch is dead.
Priss repeated this mantra over in her head as she stormed
out of the hospital. Her face was twisted with agony and
anger, eyes red from the tears she'd cried and hands
clenched in fists of rage.
Over thirty children dead.
Twelve in critical condition.
The image of Sho's face, lips twisted in that hideous grin,
flashed in her mind and she roared at the heavens in
outrage.
This bastard was going to die.
As soon as she found out who it was.
And she knew who to look to for that information.
:)
//Nene, It's me.//
"Priss? Wha-"
//I'm in a hurry,// said Priss angrily. //I need info.//
Nene stared at the static-riddled image on the screen.
Despite the line noise, she could see Priss was a mess.
Her eyes were bloodshot, hair undone, and her voice was
trembling.
//Tell me, you got any sickos recently that dress up like a
clown? Tall, skinny, green hair, purple suit?//
"Are you okay, Priss?"
//I'm calling you for information, not a counseling
session,// sniped Priss. //Now do you know or not?//
"Okay, okay, lemme think," Nene chewed her lower lip
nervously and mulled. "Green hair, white face, purple suit,
huh? There's a guy matching that description that's been
going on a rampage. Wiped out a bank, killed several
officers-"
//Just tell me his name and where to find him,// said Priss,
her voice tense.
"He calls himself the Joker. We don't have any leads on
where to find him, but-"
//Shit. Fine, I'll find'em on my own.//
"Priss, what's happened? Where are you?"
The image of Priss hesitated for a moment, then turned away.
//I'll tell you later, Nene.//
-click-
This was not good. Nope, not good at all. Last time Priss
was like this she swiped her powersuit and stormed Genom.
There was only one thing to do.
-riiiing-riiiing-riii-
//Hello?//
"Linna? This is Nene. I think we've got a problem..."
:)
[Midnight]
There were two good ways to find someone in MegaTokyo that
didn't want to be found. One way was to have contacts with
the police. The other was to listen to the word on the
street.
The word on the street had led her here, to this abandoned
carnival ground at the edge of the city. A dilapidated
tent, torn and soiled, flapped in the wind. The skeletons
of roller coasters loomed all around. With loud and rusty
squeaks, the Ferris wheel slowly swayed.
No Knight Sabers. No renegade boomers. Just her, all the
ammo and guns she could carry, and one dead psycho.
Best to wrap this up soon, though. If she was able to find
him, the cops wouldn't be too far behind.
"Come out, come out, wherever the hell you are," whispered
Priss, her handgun held ready. "You sick little fuck."
:)
Linna couldn't sleep.
Things were going downhill fast, and she wasn't able to
contact Sylia. Leon was hospitalized. Priss was missing.
Sho...
When Nene found out about Sho, she was in tears, and was
still in tears as she told Linna. Together, they visited
the boy in the hospital, and came away from the experience
shaken. The ward was full, bed after bed, of hideously
grinning children on the edge of death.
She prayed that Priss didn't get herself killed, and hoped
that she killed the bastard.
And in addition to that, she'd received an anonymous
informant who claimed to work regularly with Sylia. The
news that the informant gave was deeply troubling.
Largo might be back.
This had the tremendous potential to get messy.
She wished Sylia was back in town.
Linna couldn't sleep.
:)
The whimsical sound of a pipe organ floated in the darkness,
somewhere in the distance. Priss tried to ignore it as she
stalked through the abandoned park.
The flicker of lights and dancing shadows from the big top
drew her attention. She walked to the closed flaps of the
tent and entered.
What greeted her within was far from expected.
Broken and twisted boomers were marching within the main
circle in a bizzare little dance. Some were fairly solid,
others were a hodge podge of parts welded together. One
boomer was nothing but a skull and three arms, another had
three heads, an armless body, and hopped about on one leg.
They were all laughing, though a bit mechanically, and their
faces were all twisted into smiles.
Priss shuddered. "What the hell is this?" she muttered.
As if they heard her, all of the misshapen creatures turned
towards Priss, lurching slowly and menacingly with their
twisted smiles.
"Oh shit."
She opened fire, taking aim at the 'skulls' of the lurching
monstrosities. Sparks flew as some bullets ricoched off of
their metal cases. An icy sort of calm came over her, and
she focused on aiming for the skulls.
Two dozen bullets later, she stood over the smoking and
twitching wrecks. Too easy, she thought, entirely too easy.
These boomers looked like something from a twisted
nightmare, but they were hardly combat quality. What did
the sick bastard build THOSE for?
"Oh, now that wasn't nice!" echoed a a whimsical, cackling
voice from somewhere in the darkness. "You broke all my
toys!"
Priss whirled around, eyes afire, searching the darkness
for the source of the voice.
"JOKER!"
"Oh my, she seems reeeeeeally mad! Tell you what, let's
play a game. Games always cheer me up."
Priss whirled uneasily, handguns aimed outward, as she heard
a rustling in the shadows.
"But what game?" echoed the Joker's voice. Priss' nerves
were abuzz with panic. She couldn't pinpoint where he was.
"Ah! I know!" crowed the Joker merrily. Suddenly, Priss
heard footsteps rushing up from behind her. She whirled
around, only to get shoved aside roughly, knocked off of her
feet and tumbling a few feet. With her vision spinning, she
caught a glimpse of purple streaking towards the tent's
exit.
"TAG! HAHAHAHAHAA!"
Priss rose quickly and ran off in pursuit, the grip on her
guns tightening. As she left the tent and emerged once
more into the dark night, Priss caught sight of her quarry
in the distance, entering another building.
He paused at the doorway, sticking his tongue out at
her and pulling an eyelid down. "Catch me if you can!"
"FUCK YOU!"
She let loose, blasting away with her twin handguns, then
cursed as the Joker slipped away into the dark structure.
:)
The floorboards underneath creaked noisily under her feet as
Priss entered. Dim yellow lighting flickered randomly,
adding to the surreal effect from the endless maze of
cracked and broken mirrors. She entered slowly, guns held
ready and pulse racing.
A sinister laugh echoed from within, and a dozen smiling
white faces leered at her from everywhere.
"So what's your story?" he asked. "Did I kill your
boyfriend? Give your daddy a permanent grin? Or maybe
you're one of those vigilante types, hm?"
Priss looked around at the reflections, then gave up on
subtle tactics and began shooting all the mirrors.
*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*
"Oooh, all those broken mirrors. You're _really_ gonna have
some bad luck soon."
*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*
"Believe me, I know. HAHAHAHAHAHAA!"
*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*BLAM*
A hand reached out from behind and grabbed her on the
shoulder.
"Taaaag!"
She whirled around, bringing her guns to bear on a
grinning blood-red smile, a deathly white face.
The image before her recoiled slightly at the touch of the
gun barrel on his face.
"Whoops! I forgot, it was your turn to tag ME," said the
clown merrily. "Guess I lose this one, huh?"
"DIE!"
Priss guns thundered as she shot him at point blank range.
The Joker's head snapped back violently, bent at a sharp
angle.
And then his head snapped back up. White skin, blasted away
by the gunshots, gave way to bright chrome. Gone were the
maniacal green eyes, replaced by blood red lenses.
"Aheh... aheheh... now THAT hurt."
Priss' eyes widened in shock. She opened fire again, but
this time the Joker easily ducked under the guns, then
grabbed them from her hands. With one squeeze the gun
barrels were bent. He tossed them aside casually and looked
once more at Priss. She could see the skin of his face
crawling over the metal, hiding the steel underneath as
thousands of nanites quickly repaired the damage.
She reached in her jacket to pull another gun, but with a
sweep of his hand he sent her flying through the walls and
mirrors.
A cold, sinking feeling washed through her.
Priss was in trouble.
She'd seen that attack before.
This was a boomer.
Like Largo.
She was without armor, without any weapons that would dent
him, and nobody else knew where she was.
A few years ago, she would've drawn her remaining guns and
gone down in a blaze of glory.
Instead, she ran.
Or she tried to.
The shards of mirrors that had cut her legs were a problem,
and so was the bleeding.
"Aw... shit."
And that cold feeling wasn't just fear, she was experiencing
blood loss.
The world dimmed and flickered around her, and she felt her
consciousness slipping away. She could barely see his face,
his grinning, mocking, death mask of a face, above her.
"Now what am I going to do with this new toy, hmm?"
Priss thought bitterly, just before losing consciousness,
that this was a really stupid way to die.
:)
end part 4
:)
---
thanks to Travis Butler & Ed Becerra for helping me
iron this part out, heck, iron most of SMILE so far
out.
-rpm