Bellwether Blue Versus the Shadow Asps
This was the first Strange Worlds story about Bellwether Blue. It was improvised on March 9th, 2013.
Episode Summary
At an Egyptian bazaar near the Pyramids of Giza, buyers and sellers are going about their business...when suddenly in the distance the Pyramids explode, the wave of sound and sand knocking everyone to their feet! Everyone looks up to see a black cloud in the shape of a snake emerge from where the mighty Pyramids once stood before dissipating!
In Bellwether Blue’s hangar, Tank (pilot and master mechanic) admonishes her for pushing the engine on her plane too hard. She tells him she believes her machine can do anything...and so can her friends. Flattered, Tank reveals an early gift for Bellwether: Soaring Sam, her old biplane, with a fresh coat of paint, brand new interiors, and souped up engines that give her more power than before! He cautions her against going too fast, though, lest the power tear the wings off the plane. Bellwether muses that the sky is her friend, and that if the wings ever came off her plane her spirit would still soar!
The Asp, leader of the fascist Association of the Snake, congratulates his prisoner, German scientist Dr. Von Himmlich, on the construction of his device. Von Himmlich refuses to help him any further, but the Asp uses his Pain Thrombobulator (a fearsome and complex machine) to torture Von Himmlich into compliance.
Bellwether visits an injured old pilot friend in the hospital who barely survived being knocked out of the sky while taking aerial reconnaissance photos of the crater where the Pyramids once stood after the black snake cloud had dissipated. Bellwether recognizes the description of the cloud from her childhood, as it had appeared moments before her father had crashed and died. She vows to investigate.
Dr. Von Himmlich works on his device when Coral, the wife of The Asp, intrudes attempting to seduce him. He resists her wiles, and The Asp emerges from the shadows, commending both his willpower and his new device that will give them absolute control over the Explodonator, the weapon that had “accidentally” destroyed the Pyramids. Von Himmlich says it will take weeks to complete, but Asp leaves Coral to motivate him. Coral wonders how much of a fight they might expect from him, but Von Himmlich confesses he has no fight in him.
Bellwether pilots Sam over the Egyptian sands, leading her Liberty Aces Tank and Spunk to the crater, the sand within fused to a fine polished glass. Tank and Spunk notice the wreckage of other planes before they, too, lose power and crash.
Bellwether lands on a dune and begins searching for the Aces in the desert. She encounters a pair of nomadic crones who ask her for a drink of water. After sharing from her canteen, the two taunt her about “the Snake.” Enraged, she punches them both and charges forward.
The Asp’s henchman Freddy begs forgiveness for not bringing down Bellwether’s plane. The Asp threatens to use the Pain Thrombobulator if he does eliminate the interloper. As if on cue, Bellwether barges into the torture chamber, gun drawn! But the Asp turns the Pain Thrombobulator on her instead, disarming her and taking her prisoner!
Bellwether is imprisoned in an open air cell with Dr. Von Himmlich, a circular pit over a thousand feet deep with only a narrow ledge midway down for them to sit on. Von Himmlich tells her of his complicity in constructing the Explodonator for The Asp, and of the device that will now make its destructive threat mobile. Tank and Spunk, having constructed a makeshift plane from the wreckage of their two planes, find the pit. A guard appears on the ledge and attempts to fire at them, but they are too far up. Spunk, a crack shot, shoots the guard and then the ropes holding Bellwether and Von Himmlich, who offers to take them to the device.
Freddy reports the prisoners’ escape, but the Asp is unconcerned as he contacts the President and demands to be paid a hefty bounty. The President refuses, and the Asp demonstrates the Explodonator’s power on a replica of the Sphinx...then doubles the bounty, giving her one hour to pay before he attacks the actual Sphinx!
Von Himmlich points out the hundreds of armed guards, and wonders how the three Aces could hope to defeat them alone. Bellwether beams about their friendship and teamwork, something Von Himmlich has never had and marvels at.
Freddy unveils the Asp’s new plane, outfitted with heat and motion tracking missiles and the now mobile and fully functional Explodonator! Bellwether and Von Himmlich arrive as the Asp enters the cockpit. Bellwether finds a gun and rushes to the plane, but the Asp tells her the canopy is bulletproof and that she’ll have to take to the sky to fight him before flying off.
The Asp flies towards the Sphinx with Bellwether piloting Sam in close pursuit. The Asp launches one of his missiles, which arcs around behind Bellwether and locks on Sam. Bellwether ejects and uses her jet pack to continue the pursuit as Sam’s auto pilot engages and lands safely in the desert (leading the missile away to explode harmlessly in the desert sands). The Asp tries to evade, but Bellwether catches up and pries off the canopy, beating the Asp within an inch of his life before revealing he was the one who killed her father...then chokes that last inch out of him! The now pilotless plane spins out of control!
Von Himmlich pilots an escape pod he had built and radios Bellwether, explaining that he can intercept and lead the plane away from the Sphinx, but not stop the the Explodonator which is primed to detonate. He thanks her for showing him his courage, then flies past the spinning plane before veering up into it, altering its trajectory. At the last second, Bellwether arrives in her jet pack and flies them both to safety as the plane explodes in the skies overhead!
Bellwether returns to the hospital to visit her injured friend and tell him the tale. She receives a call from the President, thanking her for saving the Sphinx and the world. Her friend tells her about flying with her Dad, as she sits, and listens, and smiles...
