Chapter 1
The Calm before the Storm
It was early in the evening in Lazytown and a blue suited figure could be seen jumping and flipping his way down the city streets and over the walls. All was well on the streets of Lazytown, or was it? Sportacus had not yet been able to put his finger on it. But for the last few days his intuition had been telling that it had been to long since something had happened, too long since he had stopped one of Robbie's underhanded schemes. Was this peacefulness just the calm before the storm?
Dear Diary, I'm worried about Sportacus, "for the last few days he has seemed worried about something and he's not usually one to worry. I hope I can get him to talk about it soon.
Stephanie
Stephanie closed her diary and placed it on the night stand she turned out her light but she didn't go to sleep she just laid there in the dark. After a few minutes of staring at the ceiling she sat up again and propping her chin on her elbows she looked out over the darkened city streets.
She saw a group of men walking down the street.
"That's strange," she thought, "Who would be walking down this street this time of night?" just as they turned the corner one of the men stepped into the light from a street lamp and that is when Stephanie saw the big black X he had tattooed on his neck.
"Now I know something is wrong," Thought Stephanie, "Those men aren't from around here."
It only took a few seconds for Stephanie's curiosity to throw her better judgment out the window. Jumping out of bed and into her clothes she grabbed her flashlight and started down the road after the strange men. Stephanie was quick and agile and it did not take her long to catch up with them. She could now see that there were five of them and each one of them had a big black X on their neck. The men made there way to the old warehouse that was located behind the school.
They entered the warehouse and sat down at a card table. One of the men took out a deck and started dealing. Stephanie slipped into though a window and hid behind some boxes.
"This little burg will be perfect for the boss to hide out in," said on of the men as he picked up the hand of cards that had been dealt him, "These Yokels probably haven't even heard of Mr. X."
Stephanie stifled a gasp in the bigger city to the south that she had come from two years ago everyone knew of the shadowy madman who called himself Mr. X he was the worst criminal in the history of super-criminals. Stephanie new that she had to tell Sportacus what she had heard. She turned and slipped out the door. As she emerged from the warehouse she bumped into the trash cans and sent them clattering and clanging to the ground. Stephanie heard the sound of running footsteps and she knew that the men were after her she clambered over the cans and tried to run, but she wasn't quick enough.
A few seconds later she was grabbed several rough pairs of hands. One hand was clamped over her mouth.
"Well what have we here," said the biggest dirtiest man
"Some brat playing detective," snarled one of the men, "Better get rid of her she knows too much."
"Don't be such a dimwit, you dimwit," snapped the first man with an almost maniacal grin on his face, "She's pretty and the boss has a business just for pretty girls, he might even give us a bonus for her."
"I don't know," said the other one, "She's kinda young."
"HA," said the first man again, "that don't matter none to the boss." They all let out a course laugh and began to haul her back into the warehouse. Suddenly Stephanie kicked one of them in the groin and bit the hand over her mouth. The man who got kicked dropped to the ground moaning in pain and holding his groin. The other yelped and let go waving his hand around. Stephanie turned and bolted down the street when she rounded the corner of the building and came with in sight of the school she was grabbed and hit over the head and all was darkness.
Stephanie felt two hands reach into the darkness and grab her. She began to fight them with every ounce of strength that she possessed. Suddenly she hear a familiar accented voice,
"Stephanie, Stephanie," he called
"Sportacus," she called, "Sportacus!"
"Stephanie, I'm here," said the voice, "open your eyes!" Stephanie's eyes popped open and she found that she was lying in Sportacus' bed on the Airship and he was kneeling by the bed holding her hands. She took one look and Sportacus and broke down into tears,
"I was so scared," she sobbed. Sportacus put his arms around her and gently rocked her back and forth until she calmed down. When she opened her eyes and looked over Sportacus' shoulder she was stunned to see a tall man wearing a broad brimmed forest green felt hat, an overcoat of the same color, under the overcoat he had on a matching green body armor suit that looked like it was specially fitted to him. Around his waste he wore a belt with a green and silver buckle. His face was almost completely covered by the green mask that he wore. On the nose piece of the mask and the center of the belt buckler was a symbol that looked to Stephanie like a giant green bee. He stood at Sportacus' food counter calmly slicing up an apple.
"Sportacus, who's he?' asked Stephanie
"Stephanie," said Sportacus, "a very dangerous criminal called Mr. X has come to Lazytown."
"Then you know," said Stephanie. Sportacus nodded,
"I spotted those men you followed tonight a few hours before you did, I could tell by the X's on their necks that these men were Mr. X's inner circle. So I called in a good friend of mine, the one man that Mr. X fears." Sportacus turned and motioned to the stranger,
"Stephanie, meet The Green Hornet."
TBC Please read and review
NEXT: DARK ARRIVAL
