Chapter Five: Chuckles and Giggles

Written by Crofton77 on . Posted in The Story.

 “Where's my daughter?” Peter asked,
walking down the stairs.

“Dunno.” Replied Bill, basting a
chicken as Meow looked on. “Don't even think about it.” He
warned the cat as she licked one of her paws.
“Where's my daughter?” Peter turned
to Joe.
“No idea.” Joe continued watching
the television.
Peter frowned. He walked over next
door.
“Hey Tom, seen Beauty anywhere?” He
walked into the Beglys kitchen.
“No. Have you seen Charlie?”
Thomas replied, grabbing a pair of beers out of the fridge.
“Nope. They're in trouble aren't
they?”
“I'll bet.”
–
Belle jumped off the bus and landed on
a roof. She checked the strap of the Backpack where the charge meter
sat. Still had plenty of juice, but she had to be careful. She
wandered around the city, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

Soon enough, she saw two young boys
being chased by a pack of thugs.
“Chasing children?! Seriously.” She
jumped down between the thugs and the boys.
“Greetings citizens. What seems to
be the issue?” She asked.
“Little brats, their father owes us
money.” One growled.
“Oh?” Belle asked.
“Move.” Another stepped forward.
“Before we call Master Revolver.”
“And what exactly is HE going to do?”
Belle asked, folding her arms. The two boys quickly looked behind
them gratefully, before rushing off onto the nearest bus.
“Now they're gone! You're going to
pay for this Missy!” The first thug growled.
Belle rolled her eyes behind the
helmet. She pulled out the Lucky Seven Gun, to the gasps and
shudders from the thugs. “Of course I am.”
“Revolvers gun!” The thug stepped
back. “You really ARE in trouble!”
“Where IS Revolver? Robbing an old
lady somewhere?” Belle asked.
“Actually, yes. A couple of streets
over.” The thug said, pointing in the direction of his boss. Belle
immediately took off in the direction he pointed in, just in time to
kick Master Revolver in the head and stop him from taking the poor
womans purse.
“Why thank you!” The old lady
breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hold on to me, I'll get you out of
here.” Belle said, lifting up the woman and flying her away.
“Come back here!” Master Revolver
yelled angrily.
“You hide in here, I'm going to go
and deal with Mr. Grumpy Pants down there.” Belle sat the woman up
on a balcony next to a small family who had been watching. She flew
back over Master Revolver, who shot at her with an old sawn-off
shotgun.
He missed.
“Cop this you flog!” Belle cried,
pulling out the Lucky Seven Gun again and shooting the shotgun out of
Master Revolvers hands.
He growled, watching the young
vigilante floating above him. How'd she come to have HIS gun?!
“You're stuffed Revolver, you can't
beat-,” Suddenly, the Backpack gave out, and Belle dropped to the
ground, her fall being broken by some garbage.
“You were saying?” Master Revolver
grinned, advancing on her. Belle pointed the Lucky Seven Gun at him.
He laughed.
“Go on, shoot me. I dare you to.”
He sneered.
A Masters will never willingly take
the life of another.
Darn the Code!
Belle couldn't even bring herself to want to kill the man in front of
her, ever since she was little the Masters Code had been drummed into
her.
She just couldn't
shoot.
“Just
as I thought.” Master Revolver grinned. He moved forward to
attack, only to get smacked in the head with a poorly-made nun-chuck.
“Sir
Hyper!” He growled.
“Hi!
How are ya?” Sir Hyper asked pleasantly. Belle used the cover to
reach back and switch the Backpack into charge mode. It would still
be a long time before she could fly again.
While it was
charging however, she could still kick some backside! She shot up
and tackled Master Revolver to the ground before jumping up and
running. Sir Hyper wasn't far behind her, and they both managed to
escape before Master Revolver recovered.
“That
was nice how you saved that old lady.” Sir Hyper said as they
walked down a neutral street. Both were relieved to have escaped so
easily.
“I
try.” Belle grinned underneath the helmet.
“Anyway,
I need to go and find the rest of the Order. Would you like to come
with me?” Sir Hyper looked at his watch. It was a big watch with
lots of lights on it.
“No
thanks. I need to get Revolver arrested.” Belle replied.
“Oh.
Okay then. If you like, I can get the rest of the Order and we can
help.” He looked up at her expectantly.
“That'd
be nice, thank you.” Belle smiled, happy to have some back-up.
“Hold
it.”
The pair spun
around. The other masked vigilante was back, the Lions Claw Blade
strapped to his back. Belle marvelled at its size, it was almost as
tall as her!
“It's
not safe to go after Revolver. You should know better Sir Hyper.”
The disguised Charlie told them off. Belle scowled.
“I
don't know who you are, but you can't tell me what to do!” She
snapped. Sir Hyper looked worriedly between the pair.
“I'm
going to get the rest of the Order, stay here!” He bolted.
The pair stared at
each other, neither recognising the other.
“You're
just going to get yourself killed.” Charlie warned.
“Yeah,
like you're not in danger yourself, Chuckles.” Belle snapped back.
“Chuckles
huh? Bet you're just a bag of Giggles. Go home.” Charlie fought
back.
“Chuckles
and Giggles hey? Either way, you're both going to pay for getting in
my road!”
The pair spun
around. Master Revolver had returned with five of his best henchmen
(which really isn't saying much, since henchmen = cannon fodder, but
I digress).
“You're
going down Revolver!” Belle readied herself for a fight. Charlie
drew the Lions Claw Blade.
“Huh.
Two of you huh? Against the might of the Death Valley Gang?” Master
Revolver grinned as two shots rung out. They barely missed the two
heroes, who bolted and hid.
“Damn
him!” Charlie groaned. “He has snipers!”
“We're
doomed. Might as well give up now.” Belle flopped down, dejected.
This certainly hadn't been her brightest idea.
“I
wouldn't say that just yet Giggles, I have a bit of magic on me.”
Charlie grinned. Belle rolled her eyes. “I'm serious, if I go out
there and fight right now I'd win easily.”
“Chill
it Chuckles, you'd be dead within seconds if you didn't take out
either the henchmen or the snipers first.” Belle told him.
“There's
an unfinished wall over there, one blast from one of those snipers
and it will come down all over the henchmen.” Charlie pointed out.
“The
chances of that happening are slim to – WAIT!” Belle cried as
Charlie ran out. Almost immediately the shots started. Belle could
see one of the snipers from where she was. He was on top of a
building nearby, and was too focused on Charlie to pay any attention
to her. A sudden beep told her that the Backpack had collected
enough CO2 to power her for another ten minutes.
She looked up at
the sniper. Taking off as quietly as she could she crept up behind
the sniper and kicked the rifle he had off the building.
“Uh…”
He threw up his hands as Belle pointed the Lucky Seven Gun at him.
She saw a cable nearby and used it to tie his hands together.
Meanwhile, Charlies
plan had worked. The wall had been hit, and bricks showered down on
the henchmen. One managed to escape, but his weapon was quickly shot
out of his hands by Belle. Charlie then went after the other sniper,
who had been on ground level, while Belle went after Master Revolver.
“So.
You can fly again.” He growled at her as she hovered maddingly
overhead.
“Yup.
Give up now?” She asked cheekily.
“No.”
Master Revolver was about to pull out another handgun, when red and
blue lights flooded the area.
Master Revolver was
busted.
Belle quickly flew
away from the scene, heading back to the tip. It was lucky that the
stupid plan had worked, even though it defied all logic…
Belle stopped in
midair. Defied logic? Dumb luck?
That wasn't magic
at all. That was the Improbability Clause.
Chuckles was none
other than her best friend Charlie Begly!
And sure enough,
when she got to the tip, she saw Chuckles taking off his disguise.
“So,
Chuckles. How long have you been keeping secrets from your BEST
FRIEND OF TEN YEARS?!” Belle fumed.
Charlie spun
around. Giggles was standing there, and even though he couldn't see
her face, her body language was enough to let anyone know that she
was FURIOUS.
“Belle?”
He asked. “You're Giggles?”
Giggles pulled off
the helmet and there stood Belle Masters.
“Well…I
WOULD lecture you on putting yourself in danger, but it would
probably be a tad hypocritical.” Charlie stared, dumbfounded.
“REALLY?”
Belle snapped. She then giggled.
Charlie shook his
head, but he too chuckled.
“Our
plans to get rid of the Death Valley Gang and the Mobsters of
Misneach worked!” He laughed.
“Yeah,
and for a while, we're safe!” Belle grabbed his hands and the pair
danced around in circles.
–
Peter Masters
wasn't a strict father. He had his expectations of Belle for
certain, but he knew it was up to her to choose her own path. He was
just there to teach her the skills she'd need to survive and thrive.
He rarely scolded her, prefering to talk to her and show her what was
expected.
So when Meow, Bill
and Joe saw how absolutely livid he was, they both remained as silent
as humanly (and felinely) possible. A news crew had captured the
whole scene, and it hadn't taken Peter long to notice the Backpack
and the Improbability Clause.
“Hello
Belle.” Peter said as Belle walked in the front door later on that
night.
Belle froze. A
fear like no other gripped her. Her beloved father only ever called
her “Belle” when she was in VERY BIG TROUBLE.
“Hi
Daddy…” Belle tried to smile politely. It failed.
“Giggles,
hey?” Peter narrowed his eyes at her. Meow, Bill and Joe cringed.
“Yeah…
pretty different huh?” Belle tried to joke her way out of the
impending doom.
“And
that revolver you had was pretty snazzy.” Peter continued the
onslaught.
“I…found
it.” Belle stammered. Bill gently picked up Meow, and was about to
follow Joe out when he felt his older brothers glare on his back.
“Get.
Back. Here. NOW.”
Meanwhile, Thomas
was ripping the strips off Charlie.
“YOU
COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED! YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN BELLE KILLED! YOU
COULD HAVE BEEN ARRESTED!” Thomas roared. The twins grinned
approvingly up at their older brother.
“You
rock Charlie!” Izzy clapped her hands.
“You're
a hero Charlie!” Lizzy hugged him.
“YOU
TWO GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!” Thomas thundered.
“Geez,
temper much?” Lizzy gave her father a filthy look.
“Sorry
for looking on the positive side!” Izzy followed her sister out of
the room. Woof, who had been asleep on the floor, followed the two
sisters out, also giving his master a reproachful look.
Both Belle and
Charlie were grounded for the rest of their lives, and the next. It
was late when they finally got to bed, both exhausted from the days
events.
“Hey
Charlie!” Belle called softly out of the window. Charlie was
about to lie down when he heard her call.
“Belle,
how much trouble did you get into?” Charlie called back.
“My
life is over, how about you?” Belle replied. Charlie groaned.
“Me
too.” He sighed.
“GET
TO BED YOU TWO!” They heard Peter yell from downstairs.
“Do
you MIND Masters?!” Mr. Jones replied loudly from his bedroom.
“SHUT
UP JONES!” Was the cry from both the Beglys and the Masters.
Charlie grinned at
Belle, who grinned back.
“Good
night Chuckles.”
“Good
night Giggles.”

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