Stringy looks up at Ace with starry eyes. She dashed towards him with superstores, “Are you a real adventurer?”

“Stringy gets a glass of milk,” Mopy said.

“Nah ah,” Stringy corrected with a bubbly smile, “Chocolate milk.”

_____________________________________________________

Belinda glared at Blitzov, "No one is slaying anyone in my bar, at least tonight“
Belle went to the front door and waved at the cops outside. She singled out a grey haired man in a wrinkled raincoat over what appeared to be a tuxedo and said in a natural Texas drawl, ”Chief Lewis, y'all get in here, ain't no hostages. I got her fav'rit ceegars too!“

She looked back in at her patrons, ”Chief Lewis loves it when I play up the south'un bit. Says it reminds him of his cousin Marilyn."

Mopy turned to Belinda, “What do you mean by that? And why is that guy over there want to slay everyone?”
_____________________________________________________

Ace looks down at Stringy.
“Well hi there little lady” he smiles
“I do my share of adventurin'. Not today though!” he sees the police chief.
“Sir! Your help if you please.”

Chief Lewis walks over
“How may I help you?”

“A couple of young ladies have run off with some secret government military technology. They were in this bar tonight I believe. This bartender hasn't been very forthcoming about what happened though, perhaps you'll have more luck sir? This is a matter of national security.
I recommend hunting down and questioning all who were present here tonight. A man and woman just left to go to the bus top I believe, if you're fast you can catch them. There was a tall woman dressed in black as well.”

Chief Lewis listens patiently and respectfully.
“I'm going to have to see some ID sir and proof of your claims, but you seem honest and your suggestions sensible.”
He directs his men to bring back the missing patrons.

“That's pretty cool! Can you teach me? I need to work on my Southern Belle accent. I have a thick Caribbean accent despite living here since I was 10,” Stringy said.

Mopy gently pulled Stringy to the side, pulling her back to reality.

“Stringy, let's focus, we are here looking for the one with an Iota Badge. Don't you remember back at the Association when General Copula…”

Stringy brushed it off, “Oh pushaw, Mopy. You're always busy, busy, busy! Just lay down, relax, punch that random guy, jerk off, and drink hard liquor!” Stringy said jerking her thumb at the man bleeding at the knee who stood.

“Um, Strings, what the hell does any of that mean?” Mopy asked.

“Absolutely nothing!” Stringy said taking her glass of Chocolate Milk and drank it as if it was alcohol, “Ahhh, BURP! Got milk!”

Mopy wiped his face from Stringy's slobber, “Ew, gross!” he chuckled.

“And come on, what's one drink gonna do?” Stringy asked.

“Stringy, you are 17,” Mopy pointed out.

“Okay and?” Stringy continued, “I drank Scotch, Rum, Liquor, and the heavenly taste of Vodka,” she said at the end with an amateurish Russian accent.

Mopy was shocked.

_____________________________________________________

Belle smiled, “I'm Texas born and bred. I worked hard to shed the accent when I was in high school. Chief Lewis likes it. He's a fan of my movies and I've used it once or twice among a few other dialects.” You put two glasses of milk on the counter. “Two milks, one chocolate”

“Officer Toody, Muldoon, cover the bus stop, bus shouldn't have come yet.” The silver haired Lewis pulled a cigar out of the humidor Belle offered him. "I know Belle that you're just the bartender but you could have at least tried to keep the others around.“ Chief Lewis said.

”Citizen's arrest? Nothing doing. Remember what happened with those vampires with the death wish?“ She lit the Chief's cigar. He was police chief if he wanted to smoke he could. She leaned close to the chief, ”Listen if it's such s military security matter this twit would know I have a clearance so I probably would have been alerted to be on the look out for any government project. That he doesn't, makes him the one to be suspicious of. I can get on the phone to UNICOM."

Seiko and Tristan are escorted back into the bar by police officers. Seiko is chatting with them. Did they know her friend Yuki; she used to be a police officer, and her friends still are, and Seiko assisted with some investigations although they made her uncomfortable but she wanted to help her friends. Oh, and did this city have any missing persons cases linked to the serial killer who assaulted her and her roommate and…

The officers are a little overwhelmed by the time they get into the bar. Tristan is smiling an innocent but goofy smile. You wouldn't know Seiko was such an introvert once she got chatting about her mysteries and obsessions. Uniforms had the exact opposite effect on her as they did on Tristan – or, as far as he was concerned, any NORMAL person.

“Is this about the big guy who got hurt?” Seiko asks. She then whispers, “Is he a patient from a mental hospital?”

“Uh… not as far as we know,” the policeman answers. “We're not the one's who need to talk to you. It's this man.”

“Oh?” Seiko looks at Ace. “Military? Are those women with you? They seemed– Wait.” Seiko looks around. “Did they leave?”

“Yeah,” Stringy took a shot of the second round of chocolate milk, “They went out! Don't know where though. I can track them, though!” Stringy said.

“Why are you interested in catching these women? Looking at them, they look like enhanced fighters,” Mopy said.

_____________________________________________________

“They left in some noisey way.” Blitzov puts forth, leaning against the bar stool. The pink-headed one is very nice but the man-woman likes shoot innocent people. Help me find my sword, and I will vanquish her for you."

Officer Muldoon took out his notebook and wrote ‘danger to self and others’. “Okay, Mister–”
“Blitzov”
“All right sir, we're taking you downtown for an evaluation.”
“Besides Muldoon, the man's injeered –” Officer Toody said. “Gots ta gets him to da amb'lance.”
Belle winced at the strong New York accent. Chief Lewis and his old buddies. Meanwhile she was on her cellphone. “–Ace Kinkaid, yes looks like a guy from a 1930's serial even has jodhpurs. Those funny riding pants Nazi officers wear in the movies– yeah – what? Temporal disturbance? Alternate time line? And of course no one can be here until morning. You're so funny Brigadier I don't care what the Doctor says about you.”

PIT_FACE wrote:
“They left in some noisey way.” Blitzov puts forth, leaning against the bar stool. The pink-headed one is very nice but the man-woman likes shoot innocent people. Help me find my sword, and I will vanquish her for you."

This caught Stringy's attention. Blitzov sort of reminded her of the thugs she used to take out on a regular. However to her, he didn't seem evil. He's a hero in his way.

Mopy glanced at Stringy for a bit then at the grey stranger. Both of them seem curious of the man, “Hey, I like him already!”

“Um…I'm afraid to ask why?” Mopy said, “You know you can't just walk into a bar and challenge him to see if he's strong or not. He can whoop your ass to and fro to next Saturday.”

“Poppycock! Mopy, I dareth not to challenge a blood man but to exchange my hand in friendship. He's a hero, like me!” Stringy quipped, “Besides, I've taken down guys similar or bigger!”

_____________________________________________________

The place has a chaotic, people-y feel, and Tristan has a touch of agoraphobia. He unconsciously squeezes Seiko's hand. It was getting too weird. Like they had stumbled onto a movie set or a costume party where everyone is really dedicated to their characters.

“Mr…. Er. Captain…” Seiko tries to find the right way to address the official looking strangers. “We're happy to help in any way, but my friend and I do have to get home. I'm not sure what I can add, to be honest.”

She presents a passport. “Afraid I don't drive, but I have ID. Tristan doesn't.” Tristan laughs nervously. “I'm a clerk in a bookstore on 4th Avenue and adjunct professor at the university. I can give you my home address.”

“I have an address,” Tristan mumbles. “And a phone.”

Reciting work and home (one in the same) addresses, Seiko starts to feel the strangest sensation that they aren't in their city at all. But it can't be so. The city is sprawling. Surely they just got off the bus in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

Ace is worried, slamming down whisky after whisky. sweating
“Chief! Any news? I hope I don't need to tell you how serious this is. The machine they've hijacked is heavily armed. Heavily. We're talking anti-tank rockets and a 20mm auto-cannon. This thing is loose in your city right now. About 20 feet tall of armoured war machine.”

He unbuttons his shirt a little more and wipes his forehead. he sees something from the corner of his eye tucked into the bar and reaches in to get it.

A gun and a sword… He pockets the gun surreptitiously and offers up the sword.

“Hey! WHo's sword is this?”

“Mr. Kinkaid, that's evidence so hand it over,” Chief Lewis said simply. “The gun too. We'll have to run the serial numbers and if it checks out, it'll go back to its owner.”
He grabbed one lapel of Ace's shirt, “My town, my investigation. We do things my way until I get confirmation of who you are and where you're from.” He puffed on the cigar. “We're not a bunch of country pumpkins out here and in case you didn't know there's a major military base right outside town, so this is nothing new. ”
Belle put down her cell phone. “You're not from around here Mr. Kincaid nor are Pinky and friend. The base had no idea who you were but I cslled the United Nations Intelligence Command and youre very far from home.”

Seiko's threshold for pleasantness is broken. “This clearly doesn't concern us.” She grabs Tristan's sleeve. “We're leaving.”

“But, Seiko…” Tristan doesn't want to be on the wrong side of these people.

“But nothing. I'm not being held hostage by anyone. Even if they do have badges. They have our info. If they need us, they can call or email like normal people.” She pulls Tristan out the door. “And you better believe I'm sending them our taxi bill.”

Ace changes like lightning. He goes as cold as ice, snatches a fistfull of the guy's coat, grabs the gun and shoves it hard under the chief's chin.
He growls out “Nobody move or this guy's head ends up all over the cieling! Everybody GET DOWN! NOW!”

He digs the pistol in deeper.
The police freeze.

“Thrown your weapons on the floor and kick them here.”
They comply reluctantly and get one the floor.

“Everyone face down! Hands on your heads!”

With a simple move Belle slipped behind Ace, locked her arm around his elbow, applied pressure and his hand popped open and the gun fell into her other hand. She twirled him around and socked him in the gut. He went down to his knees.

“I was going to hit you in the face, but I figured you liked looking at yourself in the mirror too much to want it damaged.” She rummaged through his pockets and brought out the contents and dumped them on the bar. She opened the billfold and took out some crisp bills. “Silver notes 1932. You have to pay your bar tab before you leave sir. Six whiskeys and a good tip for your friendly bartender.”

Ace was cuffed and dragged to his feet. “I'm saving you for the Air Police from the base.” Chief Lewis said.

(Note: Chief Lewis is a Grandpa Al Lewis figure who plays the chief of police of the town Belinda's bar is in. Muldoon and Toody are two characters from Car 54 Where are you? where Al Lewis played Officer Shnauser. Officer Muldoon was Fred Gwynne. Always fun to source extras from old TV shows :)

At that moment there was the sound of grinding steel and heavy rythmic thumping getting louder and louder.
Everyone was looking around with panicked expressions. It sounded like a frieght train crossed with a helicopter.
The bar wall caved in with a rending split, bringing down part the ceiling with an almighty crash. Police standing in the way were blasted aside and everyone was burried under rubble

The huge grey mecha lurched into the mess, dragging down more of the bar structure as it went. It took one final step before ending up inches away from Ace… As its huge metallic foot settled there was a scream and a sickening pop. The floor was awash in the chief's mortal blood. He would breathe no more.

Pinky and Cc could be seen fighting for control in the cockpit… the huge 20mm cannon swung wildly around and pointed at random from its chin turret…

Stringy lifted a huge pile of rubble, which could be seen as at least weighing several tons and tossed it to the side. Mopy, with his Alpha Badge activated was seen with a blue aura encasing him. Stringy powered up and was lost in awe at the two mechas nearby.

“WHOA! THAT IS SO WICKED!” Stringy said, “Hey Mops, tend to the patrons in the bar, I gotta go and get a closer look at this!” And with that said, Stringy flew off in a flash of white light.

Mopy was confused as hell, “What the hell just happened?” Suddenly, Mopy saw Seiko and Tristan, in bit of shock, lost at what happened. He hurried over towards them, “We just came here just to hang out and crap, I did not expect this.”

_____________________________________________________

Belle popped up from behind the bar wearing a helmet. She was holding a field phone to her ear and put the PRC-77 radio up on the bar for best reception.
“BRAVO ECHO Tango, tango FIRE MISSION, over”
“Bravo Echo, tango, tango– that you Belle? Come to that?”
“My pos, I say again my pos Target, grey mecha” She sighed, “it's all gone, they're all dead”
“Even my model ship?”
“I scratchbuilt the deck on it, shot out Bravo Echo.”

Belle ducked behind the bar and curled up into a ball. It was like a freight train coming through and a tornado and hell on earth. Mouth open and hands over the ears. She would've waved over to the two teens, but she knew they were supers. Artillery wouldn't bother them, but mechs were a different matter. The whole world went up and slammed back down.

“FIRE, FIRE FOR EFFECT!”

It was an active base, and they were doing night fire and the town was only a few degrees off the normal shot clock. They'd rule it an accident on the range and sort everything out later.

“Bravo echo, tango, tango, this is moondog, this only army or can anyone join, over?”

Belle could just hear the whoosh of the jet engines. Moondog, that was Bob. She knew them all by name. She remembered autographing his boxed set of Belle's Best. “Anything still standing, knock it down Moondog.”

Five hundred pounders probably. The steerable stuff. They never had let her nab a laser designator but they'd saturate the target. It'd be justifiable overkill for killing chief Lewis.

She kicked off a couple of crates and wedged up the hatch and ducked into the bunker under the bar. And to think she had an early shoot in the morning.

“eh…keep the sword.” Blitzov mumbled as the debris came settling down around them all, “I'm gonna go now.” He hopped his way to the door, still standing among the fallen building, opened the handle, hopped out, and shut it firmly behind him to hop off through the misty abyss…town as heavy epic battle was surely to commence!!!

PIT_FACE wrote:
“eh…keep the sword.” Blitzov mumbled as the debris came settling down around them all, “I'm gonna go now.” He hopped his way to the door, still standing among the fallen building, opened the handle, hopped out, and shut it firmly behind him to hop off through the misty abyss…town as heavy epic battle was surely to commence!!!

Blitzov hadn't noticed but he was actually stepping into the ladies' room. Upon closing the door, the doorway collapsed into the rubble.

“TAMPONS!!!!” HE exalted loudly from the other side.

A red Mustang convertible zipped along with Trish humming to J. Geils. The car shook. That was artillery, she thought. She'd produced enough war movies to know. The base was shooting again tonight. She looked up and saw the smoke cloud. She stood on the brake. That was the bar.

That bar saw entirely too many odd clientele but then the police chief was a vampire. Zombie incursions, vampires, aliens but what great evil had made Belle call artillery in on the bar? Something big had probably crashed the party.

Trish just hoped Belle survived; they had an early shoot in the morning.




(Trish is in the foreground with Belle in the background)

Mopy hurried over to Belle but then a large piece of debris fell from the roof foundation. Mopy immediately pulled out his Alpha Badge.

“ALPHA BLAST!” Mopy fired a blue concussion beam from his badge at the rubble saving her. The rubble was blasted into pieces. Mopy ran over to check in to see if she and others were OK. His badge dimmed.

“Are you ladies OK?” Mopy asked, “Any idea on what's going on? And are you from the military? And why that grey dude yonder shouting tampons?”

Meanwhile Stringy followed the mechs, “Haha! This is so much better than watching the anime!”

_____________________________________________________

Before the thunder of destruction came, the mecha tilted for a moment on the busted floor before dropping through with a crash into the basement bunker level… 25 tonnes concentrated into small foot pads is a pretty bad idea it turns out.

Ace fell through as well, landing on the cockpit. Cc quixoticly let him in.

While she was distracted Pinky got control of the mecha and walked it through a wall and deeper into the sewers, letting in a flood of stinking effluent.

As the thunder rained back up in the bar pinky remarked “Wow, these sewer tunnels are huge!”

They walked off into the shadows, never to be seen again…😁😂

in the middle of the flaming pile of rubble that was once the second crappiest bar in town, it seems the only thing left standing are the ladies toilets, surrounded by a protective glow… probably emanating from one of the two supers who valiantly protected the few survivors of the insane barrage of artillery and bombs.

——

Pinky, Ace and Cc and long gone into the cavernous sewer tunnels bellow, and Belinda Brandon is missing down there as well… presumably washed away by the sea of sewerage unleashed by the broken wall, but who can tell? Trish will be looking for her. Hopefully she makes her way back up in time!

——

Mopy, Stringy, Seiko, Tristian, and Blitzov are cowering around a tampon machine, waiting for the fire outside to die down…

A loud flushing is heard from one of the stalls… A grumpy red-headed woman stomps out, barges through the crowd to the sinks, washes her hands and then buys a tampon from the machine.
Only then does she turn and introduce herself.

“Howdy. The name's Polly. I was a waitress here but it looks like my shift is over now, permanently. Has anyone got some spare pants or a skirt or something? My locker was out there and I don't feel comfortable in my work clothes…”|

(*Polly's work clothes don't include a bottom half)

Except it wasn't the sewers. There was no sewage only a dull institutional linoleum floor and corridors that went on and on.

—
Belle clambered out of the bunker. She looked down into the hole opening up into the underground base. There were burning police cars and broken bodies strewn through the rubble. She picked up one of the bright blue cores that were strewn around .

“Training rounds. Damn that mecha did more damage than I thought.” She glanced over at what used to be the ladies room and saw Polly trying to beg some pants off of someone.

“Polly, you don't work here. You come here after work, drink yourself into a stupor and pass out in the bathroom.” Belle shrugged. “Happens at least once a week. What could be so awful at a bottomless diner that you come to a dive bar like this to get hammered.”

Polly smiled, “you don't water down your liquor and you let me sleep it off.”

A red car drove up, cutting off a fire truck and a long dark government sedan. “What the f**k! F**k look at this place! You mother-f**king think the f**king insurance will –” exasperated Trish fell back into the seat of her car. “F**k, you're not getting out of the shoot that easy!”

A man in a black suit stepped out of the sedan. To a casual observer he would have passed for Tommie Lee Jones, but he wasn't. And there was no Will.Smith in sight. “Gas leak. Really sorry about that Miss Brandon, now could all of you come over so I can get your information, just have to dig out my pen–”

–blink–

And everyone remembered it as the gas leak that leveled Belle's Bar. No stompers, no police, no grey guys with swords or super powered teens. Just a gas leak. But they let Belle remember because of her above top secret M-J-K black clearance. They might even let her make a movie about it someday if anyone could ever make any sense out of it.

Trish clambered down into the bunker filled with stinking muck. She spotted Belinda straight away. The poor woman was mumbling in a daze, incoherent and dreaming because of the methane fumes coming out of the busted sewer.

“Belinda! Wake up!” Snapped Trish urgently, slapping her twice, quickly, for good measure.
“You don't have time for these silly delusions!”

Belinda just mumbled and dribbled slightly “Mmm, gass leak… linoleum…”

Trish sighed resignedly and hefted the dizzy woman over her shoulder.
With surprising strength she hauled herself and Belinda up to the ladies toilet and lay her carefully down on the floor.

“Can I get some help with my friend here please?”

Blitzov threw tampons at them both, “I've helped!!”