Atomic Puppet: New Adventures Volume 2
Atomic Reunion
May 22, 2021
It was quiet in Joeys and Pauline's apartment as villainy appeared to not be active that day so the latter didn't need to be out fighting crime. On top of that both of them had no classes, (since their winter semester's ended in April), nor did they have to work on the weekend. This left the young parents/engaged couple a chance to just relax with their infant daughter, Marisa, (age: three months old), and AP.
The four of them were just hanging around in the living room of their small apartment. Joey and Pauline were cuddling together on the couch as they watched Marisa happily play with AP, (who wasn't happy about being used as a toy since it reminded him of Bubbles).
"Just so you guys know, I'M NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS!" AP complained. However, the young couple couldn't help but laugh at this, seeing as how,(to them), this was karma getting back at AP for all the rude comments he'd made to them over the years.
"Hey as long as my little princess is safe and happy then I say let her play," Joey responded. "Besides, compared to Bubbles, Marisa treats you like a very delicate toy."
"Also," Pauline added, "you may as well enjoy things now because when she reaches her toddler stage she'll be tearing you to shreds."
This caused the hero to shriek in fear as he imagined this.
"Hey at least your experience with Bubbles will help you prepare for when you face the toddlers," Joey mentioned. Though this only made things worse for AP
"Toddlers, as in plural?" The puppet asked.
Ding-Dong
At the sound of the doorbell, everyone stopped talking, their attention to the door. Getting up from the couch, Pauline made her way to the door, looking through the peephole to see who was there. She instantly became utterly shocked, not believing who it was that she was seeing.
"Um, honey, who's at the door?" Joey asked worriedly.
Not listening to her fiancé, Pauline opened the door, (hoping that this was some sort of joke), revealing a tall, light grey skinned man with matching grey hair, (that was covered in gel), who was clad in a dark grey suit. The man carried a silver can with a small sphere on top with a fancy looking B symbol on it. The same symbol appeared on the right upper side of his suit.
"Hello Pauline," the man said in a British accent.
In response, Pauline slammed the door shut.
"Um, who was that?" Joey asked again.
Turning around to face Joey, Pauline now had a furious look on her face.
"Someone I want nothing to do with," she answered.
Ding-Dong
"PAULINE!" the man shouted from the other end of the door. "WE NEED TO TALK!"
"GO AWAY!" Pauline shouted back."
"IT'S A FAMILY MATTER!"
All this shouting caused Marisa to break out in tears.
"WAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Seriously, who is this guy?" Joey asked while picking the baby up and cradling her in his arms.
"FAMILY!" The man answered.
"GO AWAY!"
"WAAAAAAAAAH!"
"KNOCK IT OFF YOU GUYS OR I'M CALLING THE COPS!" Shouted a woman from the floor under theirs.
"Sorry Ms. Whitestone," Joey apologized
F.Y.I. Ms. Whitestone is the building's landlord.
"Pauline, could you please let this guy in, or at the least talk to him outside. You're upsetting, Marisa."
Seeing that Joey was right, Pauline reluctantly opened the door.
"Joey this is George William Bell the 4th. A.K.A. my fathers, and uncle Wolf's older brother."
"Wait you mean your uncle, George? The power-hungry businessman who abandoned you after your parents died?" Joey asked.
"Hey I'm not power-hungry," George jeered.
"Yeah that's the one," Pauline answered.
"Oh." Joey now understood why Pauline was acting the way she was. Wolf had told him all about how his brother had taken over the Bell Family's company, Ding-Dong Corp after their father died, and when Pauline's father Richard, (who was vice president fo the company till his passing), had passed away, George had severed all ties with his brother and niece. Wolf described his older brother as a selfish/greedy jerk who always craved more, including control over Ding-Dong Corp. He carried nothing about his family as evident when Wolf had been lost and presumed dead as a kid, and George thought that trying to find him was a waste of time. Or the when Pauline's parents died, George's only concerns were to acquire his brother's shares to the family business, not caring at all that his toddler niece had no parents. This, of course, infuriated Joey.
"What do you want you scumbag?" Joey asked.
"Like I said it's a family issue."
Half an hour later, Joey, Pauline, George, and Wolf were all seated around the small kitchen table in the young couple's apartment, (Pauline called Wolf over, who came over as soon as possible). Where George began to explain why he'd come over but was immediately interrupted by Wolf after the first sentence.
"YOU LOST THE FAMILY BUSINESS TO A SUPERVILLAIN!?"
"From what I've heard, Mookie's more of a wannabe…"
"HE'S STILL A VILLIAN! WANNABE OR OTHERWISE!" Pauline shouted.
Before we continue, I'd just like to let you know that the reason for why Marisa hasn't started crying again from all the shouting is because after Pauline had called Wolf, she called Vivian and asked her to come over to babysit Marisa since she knew that the baby would freak out from all the shouting that was expected to happen. Fortunately, Vivian wasn't busy and was more than happy to bond with her granddaughter. So she came over immediately and took her, (along with AP), for a stroll around Mega-City Park.
"Whatever," George said, wanting to get on with the conversation. "Anyways…"
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH WORK OUR FAMILY PUT INTO THAT COMPANY MAN?" Wolf interrupted again. "OUR GREAT GRANDDAD, OUR GRANDDAD, OUR FATHER, AND OUR BROTHER GAVE THEIR SOULS TO THAT COMPANY!"
"I know, I put a great deal of effort into it to you know."
"NOWHERE NEAR AS MUCH AS THEY DID!"
"WELL YOU DIDN'T GIVE ANY EFFORT!" George countered.
"I WAS NEVER FIT FOR MANAGEMENT! Besides, I thought Richard," "Pauline's father", "would inherit the company. NOT YOU!"
"How did you even meet Mookie?" Joey asked. "I thought he was in jail."
"Well, I met him about eight months ago when he came by my office."
"Just so you all know, George moved the company's main headquarters from New York to Mega-City about three years ago. Despite this, however, George never once spoke to either of two remaining relatives."
"He showed me designs for a bunch of these awesome new inventions including a utility belt that did all the manual labour of everyday tasks, an umbrella with a built-in heater, oh and a backpack that makes toasts while massaging your back."
"I thought Ding-Dong Corp was a door themed company," Pauline said. "Meaning doorbells, door knobs, peepholes and other door related accessories. So why is Ding-Dong Corp making products that are obviously unrelated to its product category?"
"Well, to be honest, I've always thought that the company's theme held us back. So I began opening up to new ideas unrelated doors. That's why Mookie and I began working together: in exchange for forty-five shares of the company, he provided the designs for all of his inventions." The products mentioned, and more. "Unfortunately, the products turned out to be defective when put on the shelves, as they caused tenth-degree burns, permanent nerve damage, and at least a hundred deaths."
"Oh I think I recall hearing about this on the radio last week," Joey broke in. "For some reason, I didn't catch any names mentioned. but I do remember hearing how some big company was being charged for selling defective products or something like that. Anyways, during the trial, the inventor of those products showed his porotypes and schematics to the court, revealing that the company's CEO had decided to reduce cost by ignoring some very small, yet important, details which resulted in the problems that resulted in the injuries/deaths. At the end of the trial, the jury concluded that the CEO was responsible for all the problems. As punishment, the CEO was fired from the company, (though his lawyers Managed to keep him out of prison). Afterwards, the inventor used his shares of the company to take control of it."
"That's exactly what happened. Though in my defence I had my employees build the products according to the designs provided to us. And to make matters worse, when I lost control of the company, all my shares were confiscated from me and given to Mookie," explained George. "Though I did manage to keep the family fortune, plus my penthouse here in Mega-City, and my summer home in Spain," he added
"So how many shares did you lose exactly?" Pauline asked. Focusing on what was lost to Mookie in terms of control over the company.
"Fifty shares."
"What! Are you crazy? That means that Mookie owns ninety-five percent of the company."
"Though this leaves the question as to what happened to the other five shares of Ding-Dong Corp Man?" Wolf wondered. "Because I specifically remember having handed over all my shares to George here when I graduated high school Man, (as well as the ones I inherited years later when dad died). And I know you," referring to George when saying this, "somehow managed to convince Richard, (who had the remainder of the shares), to sell you all his shares right before he passed away."
"Well not exactly," William said.
"What do you mean?" Pauline asked.
"When he father died, he left his forty shares of the company to you, "referring to Pauline". However, I managed to bribe your fathers' lawyer into removing this from his will and allow myself to acquire ownership of those shares. As part of the deal, he got five of those shares. After my fallout I went to him, hoping he'd still have those shares so I could buy them back. Luckily he still had them. Unfortunately for me, he felt guilty for helping me "steal them" years ago, and only agreed to give them up if they were given to you."
George then reached into his jacket and pulled out some papers, passing them over to Pauline. Looking down at the papers, she saw that they were documents stating her ownership of the shares George had just mentioned.
Returning her gaze towards George, she stood up and adjusted her left arm so that her thumb was pointing toward the door.
"Get. Out." She said quietly.
"Excuse me?" George asked, confused.
"GET OUT!" She repeated. Louder this time.
"But I need your help. You're the only member of this family left who has any sort of power within our company. Together with your power and my extensive business skills, (as well as my knowledge of the company), we can take Mookie down and retake our family's company. Besides, I'm your uncle who just lost his job to what was obviously a scam. Would you just abandon me when I need you most?"
"LIKE WHEN YOU ABANDONED ME AFTER MY PARENTS DIED?! OR WHEN YOUR YOUNGER BROTHER RETURNED AFTER BEING MISSING FOR TEN YEARS, BUT ALL YOU DID WAS REJECT HIM JUST BECAUSE HE'D BEEN RAISED BY WOLVES?! YOU WERE NEVER THERE FOR ANY OF YOUR RELATIVES! ALL YOU EVER CARED ABOUT WAS YOURSELF! IN FACT, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE'VE TALKED IN SIXTEEN YEARS; AND THE REASON FOR THAT BEING IS BECAUSE YOU SCREWED UP AND NEED OUR HELP TO RESTORE OUR FAMILY'S LEGACY AFTER YOU DISGRACED IT!"
"YOU TELL HIM GIRL." Shouted Ms. Whitestone.
"I did return your shares to the company." George, trying to take control over the situation.
"YOU STOLE THEM FROM ME! AND YOU ONLY RETURNED THEM BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T ALLOWED TO KEEP THEM FOR YOURSELF! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A SELFISH, POWER-HUNGRY, BACKSTABBING, LOW LIFE, ASSHOLE!"
Man, was this a blow to George. He'd never heard someone say this to him before. Sure he'd heard people call him terrible things multiple times, but usually, it had just been only one the things that Pauline had called him. Never had anyone ever called him all those things at once, (except for Wolf sixteen years ago, but half of what he said had been in wolf language). And on top of that, it had been said by his own niece. "Pauline…"
"GET OUT!" Pauline screamed again, this time George swore he could see flames in her eyes, which completely terrified him. So much that he immediately stood up left the apartment without another word.
Once the door closed, Pauline sat back down as she, Joey and Wolf all looked at one another, contemplating what had just gone on.
At this time, Joey placed his hands on Paulines' as he spoke, "You okay Paula?"
"Honestly I've been holding all that in for a long time. But, let's forget about him and focus on the situation at hand." Pauline said in response.
"Retaking control over our family's company, and stopping whatever schemes Mookie has up his sleeve Man," said Wolf.
"Bingo Uncle Wolf," agreed Pauline.
"I'll text Mom and tell her to bring Marisa and AP home," (pulls out his phone while saying this). "We need to let him know what's going on so that we can devise a plan of action."
"That's a good idea," Pauline said in agreement. "AP knows Mookie better than any of us. He'll probably know how to stop that wannabe. And hopefully, we can take him down once and for all."
Man Pauline's getting serious. But when you're a mother of the offspring of a famous/powerful superhero, (who has lots of enemies), you probably don't wanna risk villains messing with said woman.
F.Y.I. I will eventually be writing Joey and Pauline's wedding, though that'll be a big thing and I don't wanna just write something without given much effort. This'll take a lot of time to plan. I'll let you all know when I begin writing Atomic Wedding, (which will be a chapter in this story).