In the previous chapter, Simon Bar Sinister, with the assistance of Cad Lackey, was busy spreading fear around the city with his new invention, the Fear-o-matic, in his new plan to rule the world…
Simon aimed the Fear-o-matic at a man cleaning a window of a small shop.
"Simon says be afraid!"
ZAP!
The man threw his cleaning cloth and ran away, knocking over his bucket of water in the process.
Simon aimed the Fear-o-matic at a group of people eating in a restaurant.
"Simon says be afraid!"
ZAP!
The diners leapt up and bolted out of the restaurant, turning the tables and chairs over in the process and sending food flying.
"Hoo hoo, this is all so much fun!" Simon cackled. "I could frighten people all day!"
At that moment, ace TV reporter Sweet Polly Purebred stood in front a crowd of worried people (some of whom had been zapped and were panicking), unsure of what to do. A news crew was set up and was filming Polly as she reported.
"As you can see behind me, people all over the city are suddenly becoming afraid for no apparent reason. All attempts to calm those affected have came to no avail. However, there are growing reports that the sudden fear people are experiencing could be an intentional attack. Who would do such a cruel, horrible thing?"
"We've got the answer to that question right here and right now!" O.J. Skweez, the president of TTV, rushed up to Polly, waving another report in his hand.
"We now know who it is, Mr Skweez?" Polly asked. She took the new report from Mr Skweez and read it, and gasped. "Friends, I have just received news that Simon Bar Sinister is the man behind this frightening event! He is using a ray gun of sorts which causes people to become uncontrollably frightened! Where is Underdog? Where are you?" she pleaded.
"Underdog!" the crowd repeated.
And with that, Sweet Polly launched into song. "Oh where, oh where has my Underdog gone? Oh where, oh where can he be?" she sang. As she sang, various members of the crowd joined in, creating a chorus of voices singing for Underdog.
Meanwhile, at that exact moment, the humble and loveable Shoeshine finished shining another customer's shoes. The customer gave him a quarter, and Shoeshine tipped his hat and said "Good day, sir". As the customer strolled away, Shoeshine heard Polly calling for help…and other people calling too.
"Oh no!" Shoeshine said to himself. "Not only is Sweet Polly in danger, but so are others!" Shoeshine rushed around the corner, where the nearest phone booth stood. When no-one was looking, Shoeshine darted into the phone booth and…
KA-BOOM!
The booth exploded, and there stood Underdog!
"When help is needed, I am not slow. It's hip-hip-hip and away I go!"
And with that, Underdog flew up in the sky. Our hero flew over the city to where Sweet Polly was reporting. He landed in front of the crowd, knocking a lamppost over in the process, and proclaimed "There's no need to fear – Underdog is here!"
"Oh Underdog, thank goodness you're here!" Polly beamed. "Simon Bar Sinister is attacking the city with a weapon that makes people suddenly frightened! Nothing seems to calm them down."
"You've got to help, Underdog!" pleaded a terrified woman. "I got zapped, and I'm too scared to answer the telephone!"
"I got zapped too, and now I'm afraid of my TV!" shouted a petrified man.
"We have no idea how to return to our old selves and where Simon Bar Sinister will strike next!" shouted another woman.
It was then when Underdog noticed something unusual…over the sounds of the people shouting in desperation, he noticed a strange buzzing sound. It wasn't loud, but it was definitely there, and it was something he hadn't heard before.
"That noise…" Underdog wondered.
"Noise? What noise, Underdog? I can't hear any noise," said Polly. "What it is you can hear?"
Not only could Sweet Polly not hear this buzzing sound, neither could the crowd of citizens. Because Underdog was the only one there to have super hearing abilities, he was the only one to hear the buzzing. Underdog approached some of the people in the crowd who had been zapped, and the buzzing got louder the nearer he approached.
Underdog thought for a moment. "A buzzing sound that I can hear, linked to people affected by fear."
"A buzzing sound?" asked some members of the crowd. "We heard a buzzing sound too! We heard it when we got zapped! And then it vanished."
Underdog paused for thought. There was a connection. "It must be from the rays…" As Underdog thought of what to do next, he noticed that the noise wasn't just coming from the crowd – it also seemed to be coming from different corners and areas of the city. Underdog smiled – there was something he could now do! "…Of course! I'll follow the noise to seek out the source!" he said to complete the rhyming couplet.
Underdog then flew up and over the city, using his atomic ears like sonar to detect the concentration of the fear rays – as he could sense whoever on the ground had been affected by the fear rays, he knew that by going in the direction of where more affected people were running around would lead him to the culprit. As he flew along, his atomic ears began to pick up a stronger signal – the source of the fear rays. This signal led Underdog to an old abandoned warehouse in the city where, sure enough, he found Simon Bar Sinister and Cad Lackey hiding out after crashing through the ceiling. The inside of the warehouse was covered in dust and bits of crumbling cement from the walls, and old unopened boxes were stacked up throughout. The only light came from the smashed windows and the hole in the ceiling that Underdog had created.
"Hey Boss, look! It's Underdog!" Cad exclaimed.
"Yes Cad, I can see that," Simon muttered.
"Well aren't you gonna do something?" Cad asked frantically.
"Wait and see, wait and see," Simon answered. He grinned wickedly to our hero. "Why Underdog, what a pleasant surprise," Simon said innocently. "What brings you here?"
Underdog dusted himself off and frowned at the villains. "I followed the sound of the rays by ear. Now hand me the weapon you used to spread fear." He pointed at the Fear-o-matic.
"Never!" Simon aimed the Fear-o-matic at Underdog. "But I'm willing to give you something else! Simon says be afraid!"
He fired a fear ray at Underdog. Underdog leapt out the way. Simon fired another fear ray, and Underdog once again leapt past.
"Ha ha ha! Look at this! I've got Underdog jumping for his sanity!" Simon cackled.
"Good one, Boss!" Cad laughed.
Simon fired another fear ray at Underdog, and Underdog dodged it. A crowd gathered outside the warehouse, Sweet Polly and her news crew among them. They had followed the canine superhero across the city, and from outside they could see the action through the smashed windows of the warehouse.
"Look out, Underdog!" Polly yelled.
Underdog glanced out the window. "Keep back!" Underdog yelled to the crowd.
Simon saw his chance. He aimed the Fear-o-matic at the distracted superhero. "Simon says be afraid!"
ZAP!
Underdog spun round to see. The fear ray shot towards him, and it was too late to get out the way! Underdog was hit!
What a shocking turn of events! Underdog has been hit by one of Simon Bar Sinister's fear rays! Has Simon Bar Sinister succeeded in defeating the only person able to stop him? Is this the end of Underdog? All will be answered in the next exciting chapter…
Does anybody else find it funny in the show that while all the havoc is going on in the city, we always see somebody who is completely oblivious to the havoc getting their shoes shined?
And yes, the buzzing sound Underdog could hear is meant to be the same buzzing sound that the fear ray made in chapter 1. I'll clear this up in case I'm being a bit vague: the buzzing sound is only audible to normal people when the Fear-o-matic is fired, but it seems to vanish when the fear rays hit something…or so it seems. The buzzing of the fear rays continues when they have hit someone or something, but nobody else can hear them afterwards apart from Underdog.
