Written in 2018.
All rights reserved. Except for reviewers quoting brief passages in a review, no part of this work may be reproduced without permission of the author.
Some characters and events in this story are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
First edition.
"They don't have a lot of crime in the countryside, other than theft. But every once in a while, things turn ugly, and when they turn ugly, they turn very ugly."
—John Sandfor (from brainyquote·com)
Preface
This is a story I've wanted to write for some time. Given the unpopular nature of the MASK racing episodes, I wanted to write what would be seen as a more traditional – that is, non-racing – MASK episode. Despite crossing over with characters from L. Frank Baum's Oz series, I've done what I could to give this story the same feel as an actual MASK episode – complete with the commercial break bump-outs between chapters and the public service announcement at the end.
Enjoy!
Acknowledgments
Very special thanks to DIC Entertainment for MASK characters and concepts and to L. Frank Baum for his Oz characters and concepts.
Most of the drivers ignored what might have been an unusual caravan of vehicles driving down the road. It wasn't every day that an oil tanker, GTO, touring bike, Nissan 300ZX, Ford Bronco, and motorcycle with a side car drove through suburbia with a helicopter flying overhead. Even fewer people noticed, or cared, that the caravan continued straight ahead at a light where most locals turned left or right if they wanted to go anyplace other than the dead-end created by the edge of a river.
"Are you sure this is the spot?" Miles Mayhem asked from his helicopter through the group's radio system.
"I calculated it very precisely, Mr. Mayhem," Nash Gorey replied. "You can always count on me to be right."
"You better be, Gorey. We can't afford a miscalculation. I'm still not sure it will work."
"Just watch, I know what I'm doing, sir."
Behind him, Sly Rax groaned from his motorcycle. His colleague's constant butt-kissing provided a constant source of annoyance.
Meanwhile, Gorey pressed a button and his tanker gradually transformed. What appeared to be the oil storage tank opened up to provide a computerized command center with radars and a large turreted device capable of scanning or shooting high-powered lasers. Gorey adjusted his wire-rimmed glasses and sat down at one of the terminals, typing something into the display of front of him. A short time later, the boom turned to face the river and shot several short laser blasts.
"I don't trust him," Bruno said. "He's gonna attract someone, MASK even."
"I just want my share of the cut I was promised, I can't keep working for nothing," Floyd whined.
"Shut up, both of you!" Mayhem commanded. "Gorey may be a geek, but he's our geek. If he says it will work, it will. MASK has left us alone lately., so it's time to sneak in under their radar."
As everyone continued to look on, there was a sudden bright flash as a round light opened.
"I don't believe it, it really worked," an awe-struck Gorey stated.
"But can we go through it?" Miles asked. "I can't afford to do another salvage operation if everyone falls into the river like you did in that mission in Mexico."
"You can see if for yourself, it worked. And since I'm already here, I'll go first to show you."
Without any concern, Gorey got back into Outlaw's driver seat and shifted into drive. The rest of VENOM watched as their colleague and his vehicle disappeared.
"Come on in! I don't know how long it will last" He called to them through their radio network.
"You heard him, get moving!" Mayhem told the remaining VENOM agents, still looking on unconvinced.
A short time later, their caravan passed through the portal moments before it disappeared.
⁂
Elsewhere, Bruce Sato had rejoined his colleagues—Matt Trakker and Hondo McLean. The former invited the latter pair to an automotive engineering lecture he felt would be informative for the trio. With VENOM's schemes coming more frequently than usual, the MASK team needed to be ready to react and have the necessary technological information to keep up with their evil foes.
"I hope you liked the lecture," Bruce said.
"Automotive engineering seems more your area of expertise, but parts did sound interesting."
"An old dog that learns new tricks is an older but wiser dog."
"Bruce, you seriously need to write a book of translations for those, you'd make millions," Hondo interjected.
"I think Bruce was trying to say that it's never too late to learn something new."
"Maybe so, but I'm just a history teacher and scout master."
"You're also our weapons strategist. So I'm hoping you learned something."
"Point taken. We better get back to the hotel. I don't want to find out Scott and T-Bob tore it down out of boredom."
With Matt, Bruce, and Hondo driving their respective vehicles – Thunderhawk, Rhino, and Nightstalker, they nearly reached the Blue Door Hotel when Matt's onboard display chirped.
Activating the display, he saw Duane Kennedy – the head of the Peaceful Nations Alliance (PNA).
"Matt, thank goodness you finally answered," Duane said.
"I was attending lectures and presentations, I could have sworn I told you that before," Matt answered.
"Anyways, I'm glad to finally reach you. I have something odd to tell you."
"At this point, very little is odd, especially when it involves VENOM."
"That's the thing. We've been monitoring their activity and they've just disappeared off our surveillance satellites."
"Are you sure? Did they come up with some sort of anti-tracking technology?"
"That's possible, but even they don't know how we track them," Duane explained. "As much as I'd like there to be no more VENOM, we can't let our guard down. I'll send you the coordinates of their last-known location—amazingly enough out by you."
"Leave it up to VENOM to cause mayhem on a business trip. I have to take care of something quick first, but we're check it out, Duane."
⁂
At the hotel, Scott Trakker looked out of the hotel window and saw three familiar vehicles returning.
"Hey, T-Bob, dad's back! Let's go greet him and show him we stayed out of trouble."
"I guess being bored isn't trouble, especially when you count all the holes in the ceiling tile," T-Bob deadpanned.
"Never mind that, let's go down to the lobby."
A short time later, Scott reunited with his dad and the latter's colleagues.
"Scott, are you staying out of trouble?" Matt asked.
"Yes, sir. You can even ask T-Bob," Scott replied.
"It's true. I can't tell a lie... it's against my programming anyways. Though he did stop me from having a hot date with a toaster—tee hee," T-Bob added.
"Well, it's nice to see you two behaving for a change. Bruce, Hondo, and I have to go check something out, so you'll have to behave a little longer," Matt explained.
"But dad, you promised to take us to the zoo," Scott reminded his father.
"Sorry, Scott. It will have to wait."
"I bet you're checking out VENOM. T-Bob and I can come help you."
"Speak for yourself," T-Bob stated. "I'd rather find that toaster again."
"What you can do is behave yourself. If you can stay out of trouble, I promise you can go to the zoo."
"Deal!" Scott exclaimed."C'mon T-Bob, lets go back to our room and find something to do."
"Maybe the TV can shock me with a good time," T-Bob deadpanned.
Watching his son and robot leave, Matt said, "Alright, let's see what VENOM is up to."
"Are you sure those two will be OK? T-Bob seems too preoccupied to keep Scott out of trouble," Hondo stated.
"I'm sure they'll be fine. I gave Scott a stern lecture about trashing the hotel. He won't make that mistake twice."
⁂
Elsewhere, the VENOM agents continued to travel through what seemed like an odd tunnel with intense pulsating light. Nobody knew what to expect, yet nobody said anything for fear of causing an accident with their vehicles.
Suddenly, the light ended and their vehicles landed roughly but properly on the ground. Everyone looked around, unsure of their location.
"It worked! It worked!" Gorey exclaimed.
"So you did," Mayhem replied. "You really outdid yourself this time, if we're really in Oz."
"We have to be. My calculations were perfect, Mr. Mayhem."
"So, what do we do now?" Bruno asked.
"Well, if the story is right, we follow the yellow brick road. Maybe the Wizard can give Dagger here a brain," Rax said.
"Hey, that's not funny," Dagger protested.
"I just want my share," Floyd stated, ignore the banter.
"Shut up, all of you," Mayhem retorted. "We have to go to the Emerald City to get what we came for. Then, there will be more than plenty for all of us."
"That's all fine and dandy," Vanessa replied, " But how do we get there?"
"You've read the story, haven't you? Follow the yellow brick road. But here's the best part. MASK doesn't even know where we are. They won't even know about this until it's far too late."
⁂
At the hotel, Scott flipped through the television channels in boredom before giving up and turning off the TV set.
"All those channels and nothing good on," he groaned.
"Scott," T-Bob interrupted, "I know this is the Blue Door Hotel, but do you think they'd let me order a Waldorf Salad?"
"Why would you want that? Robots don't eat."
"They say salad has roughage, and being alone with you all day doing nothing has been pretty rough."
"What's wrong with your circuits. You've never cracked such bad puns before," Scott stated, shaking his head.
"I'm programmed for action – just so long as it doesn't involve VENOM."
"We don't even know where they are or if they're around. So we can't help dad even though I'd love to."
"We have to do something, I'm so board my circuits can't handle it."
"I know! We can go to the zoo. It's only three miles away."
"Scott, you know your dad said he'd take you if we behaved," T-Bob reminded his owner.
"Yeah, but we're both bored. It will give us something to do. Besides, what trouble can we get into at a zoo."
After scratching his dome, T-Bob answered, "That's a good point."
"Alright, T-Bob, it's off to the zoo."
The pair went down to the lobby and went outside.
"OK, T-Bob, you know what comes next: motor scooter mode."
T-Bob's arms retracted into his body, leaving only his hands as handlebars. His rear end opened up 90 degrees to form a seat as a single wheel popped out from the compartment. Scott than sat on the seat as T-Bob sped off towards the zoo.
MASK will be right back... and so will VENOM.