Chapter 24
The End Game
Both Bart and Lisa shrank away as this mad man in the Mask crawled through the cracked hole he'd made in the TV as if emerging into the real world from TV land. Bobby as the guy was calling himself dusted himself down with his fingers before clearing his throat and straightening up.
"Never believe what you see on TV!" the skinny man grinned.
"Who... who are you?" Bart asked a quiver in his voice. He was right to be scared, they both were.
"All in good time, my boy!" Bobby said leaning down to his level and putting his arm around his shoulders. "But first we gotta get to know each other, you know move in together get to become real, great, pals!" he bent his arm around Bart's neck so the boy was half gasping in his grip but not choking.
"Bob listen!" Lisa finally piped up. It was a long shot she knew, but she had to try. "That Mask is dangerous, it won't give you what you desire, I'll just rip your soul out and destroy you and everything around you!"
Bobby's grip on Bart's neck relaxed and he straightened up and Bart fell to the floor gasping for breath. He appeared to be considering Lisa's wise words because he held up his right hand to his face and let the elbow of that arm rest in his left hand. "You know, I'm sure what you're saying is a bad thing..." he said rubbing his chin. Then he flung his arms out wide, grinned like a maniac and his eyes ballooned out to twice their usual size. "... BUT I'M JUST NOT SEEING IT!"
Bart flattened himself to the floor and was slowly crawling along to get to the door. A motion that didn't go un-noticed by Bobby because he flattened himself to the floor next to Bart, put his arms around his neck in a half friendly gesture and said. "Where do you think you're going, aye spike top?" He then stood up and brought Bart to his feet by his underwear giving him a wedgie. "Why don't you stay, we're going to have some laughs, you like to laugh don't you, you like pranks, you like making other people's lives a misery for your own entertainment? Well guess what? ME TOO!" and he let go of Bart's underwear and let him fall to the floor.
"Bob, don't you see what it's doing to you?" Lisa pleaded at him. Bob turned to regard her with a curious look to his face for a second, but that expression quickly dissolved into another smirk. He pointed at Lisa's stomach and said "You're wearing a lamp shade!" Curiously and stupidly Lisa looked down at where he was pointing and Bobby flicked her nose up the moment she did. "I can't take a gal seriously if she's wearing a lamp shade." He turned back to Bart for a brief second before turning back to Lisa to add "If we were talking about lamp shades... maybe."
There then came a rattle on the door "What's going on in there? What's all that noise?" said moms voice as it carried through the door. Bart was about to speak, to cry for help when Bob's arm stretched, literally stretched as if it was made of rubber over to Bart and clamped his hand over his mouth and brought him towards himself in a tight hold. Lisa also made to shout for help but she got the same treatment and now struggled to even mumble a word.
"Let me oblige!" Bobby whispered to them and cleared his throat. "Nothing mom, we're just playing Grand Theft Scratchy on Xbox" he'd said that using Bart's voice! "Yeah mom, we're just having fun!" and that was Lisa's voice!
"I thought I took that game away from you!" mom said and Lisa could just visualise mom turning the handle to open the door to speak to them directly, and inwardly she was wishing mom would.
"It's the watered down version." Bobby said quickly in Bart's voice "There's no sex references, nor any attractive woman with big knockers on it. Just fun filled family violence and killing." There was a pause, a long pause, a pause longer than any pause Lisa had ever experienced.
"Oh..." was all mom said "At least they've toned that down a little. Okay just turn it down." No, mom don't go, don't go, open the door, why wasn't she opening the door? But Lisa could hear her footsteps slowly walking away.
"Now, where were we?" Bobby asked dropping both Bart and Lisa to the ground. "Ah, yes" he rubbed his hands together gleefully then he reached out and grabbed Bart by the shirt and hoisted him up off the ground so his feet dangled in mid air. "Where are those transmissions you intercepted, what have you done with those plans?"
Bobby then shook his head as if to clear it "No, wait that's Star Wars" he cleared his throat "You wanna have fun don't you? Well so do I? I know the perfect place for us to have fun!" he said this very fast and as he did his eyes became meaner and meaner and his expression creepier and creepier "It's radioactive, it's explosive, it's the place to be, and it's all going to end in a big BANG!"
Just then the door flew open and Lisa's heart leapt. Their savour had arrived with a stern look holding out a packet of potato chips? Her heart fell, it was only Dad.
"Boy, did you have the last packet of potato chips and didn't finish them?" he seemed oblivious to the green faced person standing in front of him. "You know how much I love food and to waste it like this is just sick!"
"Dad!" Bart wailed trying to get Homers attention and bring him back to reality.
"I don't care what you've got to say." Homer said as he placed his hands behind the small of his back with a stern look on his face and started pacing around the room as if nothing unusual was happening. "Nothing's going to stop me in the middle of this speech! You're gonna..." then he seemed to take notice of the green faced man standing in the middle of the room. His eyes widened but the rest of his expression and his body just froze at the sight of him.
"Hi!" Bobby grinned waving at Homer with his free hand.
"Hello" Homer stood and waved still in shock
"How's it going?" Bobby asked almost casually despite his crazed appearance.
"I'm okay thanks" Homer said in a distant voice, it took him a while to ask "You?"
"Oh, I'm fine, fine. Can't complain, how's the kids?"
Dad looked like he didn't know what to say to Bobby's last comment and looked at each of the kids in turn, why wasn't dad doing something, like screaming?
"Dad, he's trying to kill us, do something!" Bart screamed at him. That broken whatever barrier was stopping Homer from moving, then he did do something. He screamed loud at the top of his lungs.
"Something useful!" Lisa cried when Homer stopped screaming.
"Oh, is that the time I really must be off!" Bobby said quickly tucking Bart's form under his arm, opening the window and started to step out before turning back to Lisa with a murderous look to his eyes that she recognised instantly.
"Don't go away Lampshade!" he said to her "Once I'm done with Spiketop you're next!"
"Lisa, Homer help!" Bart cried but it was too late. Bobby had pushed himself away from Bart's room and landed in the backyard both unharmed, so far. Lisa raced up to the window and looked down at Bobby as he leapt the fence easily and skidded into a very battered looking Police Squad car which sat in a back alley behind the house and if Lisa wasn't mistaken it had splattering of blood on it.
Bart was thrown into the back seat and the door slammed shut as Bobby crawled into the drivers side, started up the engine and drove off as fast as the vehicle would go.
Lisa knew who that was, she recognised that murderous look he'd just given her and the fact that he had pretty big shoes was a dead giveaway. All the facts added up, that person was none other than Sideshow Bob.
This guy was driving like a maniac. He sharply turned left and right causing Bart –who wasn't held down by a seat belt- to constantly roll from one side of the car to the other.
"Having fun back there?" the crazy man shouted as he fought with the wheel, twirling it this way and that which was odd because the car didn't turn the way the wheel was turned as if it didn't really control the car.
Bart was fast regretting ever getting his hands on that stupid mask. If he had not thought of it as a perfect disguise for a night of pranking he'd have just thrown it out or used it as fire wood or something and none of this would be happening.
Bobby sped down the street at 100 miles per hour despite a sign clearly saying 30 and quickly attracted the attention of a couple of police patrol cars from a side street. They started to give chase their sirens blazing, but this did not fill Bart with hope because time and again he'd see someone outwit and overpower the police with the Mask, admittedly most of the time that person had been himself.
"Whoa, look out we've got two on our tail!" Bobby shouted. Suddenly Bobby's car seemed to crash into something, a box balanced and rotating on its tip and it looked like it was made a glass or something like it because all Bart could see was the shards raining down around the sides of the car.
Through the wire mesh divide designed to keep the prisoner in the back from attacking the driver Bart could see a small screen in the dash suddenly start flipping through several images rapidly. A lighting bolt, a banana peel, a red shell, a green shell, and a red mushroom. The images started to slow down their flipping until it halted on a banana peel. This was strangely familiar to Bart, it was like one of his video games.
"Mario and Donkey Kong are closing fast!" Bobby proclaimed "There's only one thing to do!" He reached into the screen like he was reaching into a water tank because the screen rippled as he reached into it and pulled a real banana peel from it. Then he wound down his window "Banana's away!" and tossed it out the window.
Bart looked out the back window, at first nothing happened until the leading squad car ran over the banana peel. It's wheels didn't even touch it yet the car suddenly slowed right down to about zero and started rapidly spinning repeatedly in a 360. It started spinning even faster when the following police car slammed into the back of the spinning car causing it to slamming into the side of a building.
"Hey kid, take the wheel!" Bobby said and... Bart couldn't believe what he was seeing. Bobby ripped the wheel from the dash, opened a small slit in the wire mesh and handed it to him. Bart was all for a good joke like that but in real life this was just nuts!
With Bart holding the wheel, which didn't seem to operate the car anyway even when it was attached to the steering column, Bobby unclipped his seat belt and crawled out his window onto the roof. Bart looked out the rear window in time to see a massive looking potato launch itself from the top of the car and slam into the pursuing police car bringing it to a complete stop in moments.
Bobby then swung himself back into the driver's side seat and fastened his safety belt. "NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL A POTATO GUN!" he chuckled.
"Where are you taking me?" Bart finally asked throwing the useless wheel to the floor.
"You'll find out soon" Bobby said as the car took another sharp turn and the Springfield Nuclear Power plant came into clear view.
"Our destination" Bobby said "Oh by the way, duck!" he called and Bart did as he was told as the car crashed through the plants entrance barrier arm cutting the roof and windows off it leaving a twisted mess of tangled metal. Bart sat up again in the roofless car as did Bobby. The green guy slammed on the breaks forcing Bart to slam into the back of the front seat, but thankfully not with so much force that it injured him in any way.
He barely had time to compose himself when Bobby reached in, grabbed him and lifted him from the car in one hand.
"This is the perfect place to play my game, and we won't be disturbed because no one in the whole of Springfield will ever think of looking for us here!"
"They're at the Nuclear Plant!" Lisa stated as she sat in the passenger side of Homer's car racing down the street following the trail of destruction.
"Okay" Homer said clearly uninterested as Lisa elaborated how she knew.
"Bob said that he was going to take Bart somewhere 'Radioactive' and he would 'go out with a big bang'"
"Uhuh" Homer mumbled as he drove.
"Bob's going to kill Bart by blowing up the nuclear plant, but that'll destroy Springfield as well" Lisa said trying to get this across.
Lisa had calmed Homer down long enough to get across to him that it was important they drive to the nuclear plant. Homer was at first resistant "Go into work when I'm not supposed to work, I don't know that sounds like work" he'd said but Lisa bargained with him and promised not to play her saxophone when this year's Super Bowl was on. Homer had cheered and agreed to take her to the plan. She kind of felt bad because she neglected to remind him that this year's Super Bowl had already passed two months ago.
They'd been stopped by Mom on the way down asking where they were going at this hour, but Lisa batted the question out of the way by saying it was a father-daughter activity. The activity being 'going to the nuclear plant on Homer's nights shift' despite Homer not being on a night shift, but she seemed to swallow it.
Lisa didn't tell mom about Bob and the Mask because she didn't want to worry her. If anything mom would probably just phone the police and Lisa knew from personal experience they couldn't stop anyone wearing that Mask, that and she did try to phone the police the moment Bob left the house but they wouldn't take her seriously, probably because of her age again. She then got Dad to call them up but they hung up on him in seconds. Lisa asked him why they'd done that and Dad had said "Well I was a little drunk a few nights ago..." enough said as far as Lisa was concerned.
So now they were speeding towards the nuclear plant following the trail of destruction that would no doubt lead them to it. They'd past a crashed police car and another with a giant potato crushing its front before driving into the nuclear plant car park. Homer had forgotten his pass to open the barrier and there was a top of a Police car sitting in front of the entrance blocking the way in, and made it look like a police car had sunk into the road. So Homer tried to outsmart it by driving through the plants exit. Unfortunately this had a fatal flaw because he didn't notice the tyre spikes sticking out of the road and all the cars tyres popped in one go causing the car to come to a complete stop.
Lisa opened the car and rushed out. She spotted the topless police squad car Bart had been bungled into parked right next to an open fire exit to the main building where Bob had obviously gone through. Homer following at her heels, he didn't have to because there was nothing he could do against the powers of the Mask. Lisa also realised that she couldn't do much against the powers of the Mask either, but she felt partly responsible for letting Bob get a hold of it –she knew Bart was mostly to blame for it- and she honestly did not have a clue what she was going to do to get that curse off that maniac.
Bobby had tied Bart up to a chair using ropes he'd magically conjured from his sleeves and coiled them around him until he could not move. Bart tried to struggle and use some sort of escape trick like that magic guy used on that show where he revealed how magic tricks worked. But this trick was far too well done because Bart could not move an inch and the more he struggled the more his bonds seem to tighten.
"You see, Bart" Bobby said the name with a measure of loathing and disgust as he operated some of the controls on a large console on the far side of the room, which was also filled with countless other control panels and consoles that Bart couldn't imagine the function of but Bobby seemed to understand it because his hands were flying over the controls almost like a pianist.
The console he was using sat behind a glass window which showed something that looked like one or two Olympic sized swimming pool set side by side each other with large cubes submerged into it. As Bobby operated the controls the very top sections of those cubes sliced themselves off and started to raise up, with it were dozens of strange, green glowing rods which came from a dozen holes in the lower half of the cubes. "When these cadmium control rods ascend far enough from the reactor core, it will allow the core to enter a chain reaction that will set off nuclear fusion at an uncontrolled rate and that will..."
"Boring!" Bart proclaimed suddenly finding a sense of cool about the situation.
"...that will..." Bobby started again after Bart's interruption "... cause the Uranium-235 atoms to split into two new atoms, releasing an enormous amount of energy but will also eject two neutrons into the next Uranium 235 atom and that will split releasing more energy and another two neutrons, and so on and so on, releasing energy each time until..."
"Still bored" Bart proclaimed again. Bart never once thought it strange that he was mocking his captor when Bobby had the real intent of killing him. The masked man had clearly had enough as he magically produced a roll of duct tape and slapped a patch over Bart's prattling mouth.
"... until the chain reaction reaches critical mass and results in an atomic explosion that will wipe out the whole of Springfield in one go!" Bobby chuckled, lightly at first but slowly became darker and darker until it sounded so dark it was almost familiar. He walked back towards the viewing window, the control rods which rose further and further from the water began to cause the boxes to glow brighter and brighter. He then turned to face Bart a crazed look in those crimson eyes "...and you, my boy, will have a front row seat to the biggest bang Springfield will ever see!"
He turned, and as he did so his multicoloured jacket faded into a smart looking business suit and tie which he adjusted, the suit and tie unfortunately clashed with his green rubber face but he didn't seem to care.
"I must prepare to make my speech to the residence of Springfield and inform them that they are all about to die in a thermal nuclear explosion." He said calmly and casually as if he'd just said he was thinking of going to Burger King for lunch. Suddenly he turned to Bart and asked "What do you think of this red tie? Too doomsday do you think?"
He didn't wait for Bart to answer him, instead he turned on his heels and walked straight back towards the large console and adjusted more controls. That's when Bart saw from a side door the unmistakable star fish shaped hair doo of his sister and the glint of light reflecting off the top of Homer's balled head.
"Now, how long should I give Springfield to panic before the end?" Bobby said not turning to face him, he rubbed his hands together so fast in his intense excitement that they started burning red hot. "Let's say 13 minutes? Yeah, a good number, an unlucky number, Friday the 13th, baker's dozen, its perfect!"
'Warning, reactor overload! Warning reactor overload!' said a female computer like voice with urgency clear in it 'Recommend reactor shut down. Plant will go critical in 13 minutes.'
With Bobby looking the other way Lisa and Homer came out of their hiding place and tiptoed over to Bart, but part of the way there Homer broke off from Lisa's path, picked up a loose pipe that was leaning against a wall and advanced on Bobby. Lisa hissed a whisper "Dad no!" but Homer didn't pay attention as he slowly crept up towards Bob holding the pipe above him like a weapon.
Lisa hurriedly went over to Bart, shushed him by placing her index finger up to her lips without making the noise that might alert Bobby –as if he really needed telling- and started to undo Bart's bindings. But Bart could feel she was having difficulty undoing them. Come on Lis'. You're smart, if anyone can work out how to undo these then it's you.
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 12 minutes.'
Snap! Bart's pounding heart nearly missed a beat at that sound and Lisa stopped working on his bonds. Homer, as he'd slowly crept up towards Bob had stepped on what looked like a little twig left in the middle of the floor, what was that even doing there? Thankfully Bobby didn't seem to have noticed, he was too mesmerised by the raising control rods. Homer took another step forward and raised the metal pipe above his head ready to swing it down onto Bob's head. But then Homer slipped up, literally.
As his foot landed he fell backwards as a single roller-skate conveniently materialised right where his foot was due to land. Homer fell on his back with a thud and as he fell he lost his grip on the pipe, it flew out of his hands and then comically chose to land right on his head causing him to emit a loud "D'oh!"
"It seems I have more guests!" Bobby said whirling on Homer as if he'd known he was there the whole time. Bobby stepped on the front of Homer's shoes and somehow that brought Homer back up to a standing position as if he was as stiff as a board. Bobby then held out one hand away from Homer and a bat ejected from his sleeve "Why don't you take a seat!" and with one great swing Bobby swung the bat into Homer's stomach, he grunted as the force it caused him to fly backwards towards Bart and Lisa.
A four legged chair chose that moment to conveniently slide across the room and stop right next to Bart's own chair in time to catch Homer as he slammed into it. It did not fall or collapse under his weight or momentum. As he landed ropes snaked out of nowhere and wrapped around Homer's fat form like a dozen snakes and a duct tape patch slammed down over his mouth.
"I just hit a Homer Run, get it?" Bobby chucked at his own twisted joke and tossed the bat over his shoulder where it mysteriously faded away after it landed on the ground. "Homer Simpson, you were always good for a laugh!"
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 11 minutes.'
Lisa remained hidden behind Bart's chair, it was a feeble hiding place but so far Bobby didn't seem to notice her. That illusion was broken when something wrapped itself around her arms and legs, ropes which forced her into a straight backed chair as more ropes snaked out and wrapped themselves around her stomach and chest holding her firmly in place and a duct tape patch was smacked forcefully over her mouth. The chair then 'walked' on all four of its legs to sit itself next to Barts so Bobby could clearly see all three of them.
"Sorry to leave you all tied up like this!" Bobby said smiling that creepy smile "But I have a town to terrorize!"
Bobby moved to one side of the room which mysteriously now had what looked like half a TV studio conveniently placed in there. There was a camera, a large desk with a chair and behind the desk were the words GF News in big green letters behind it. Bobby approached the desk and sat down, picking up a pile of papers from the desk and shuffled them quietly and coolly as if he had nothing to concern him whatsoever.
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 10 minutes.'
Suddenly Bobby cleared his throat and peered directly into the camera that was operated by no one yet appeared to be working of its own accord.
"People of Springfield, please attend carefully because the message that follows is vital to each and every one of you. I don't really know how to break this to you." He pulled a white handkerchief from his jacket pocket and wiped his rubber looking face that appeared to be sweating as if the next sentence he was going to utter was really going to break his heart to say. "But the bottom line is that in less than ten minutes you are all going to die" he let the words hang for a second. "Yes, that's right 'die!'"
The camera suddenly turned to face the window with the nuclear reactor beyond about to go critical "as you can see I have seized control of the local nuclear plant and have set the plant to explode in... how long would you say darling?" he said as the camera panned to look back at him.
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 9 minutes.'
"Thank you, darling." Bobby said "You have less than nine minutes to attempt to pack your things and get out of Springfield, but I doubt you'd have the time. I shall enjoy watching you all scurry around like pack animals, but don't worry it will all be over soon."
He looked like he was going to sign off but decided to add one last thing. "Oh and before any of you idiots think you are brave enough to try to play the hero please keep in mind that..." the camera panned to take in Bart, Homer and Lisa all tied up and gagged "...I have a number of hostages. If I see so much as a cop set foot in this structure then I will not be held responsible for my actions." He added darkly. Bobby stepped from his chair to stand in front of them and the camera and waved cheerily to his audience "Have a nice death" he smiled "Before we let you get back to America's Funniest Home Video's lets first see what the local weather will be like, Barbara how's it looking?"
The camera panned around again to Bobby, who had managed to move around the camera quickly without being seen and change both his clothes and gender. He was now cross dressed in a red, tight fitting woman's business suit and long, curly, blond hair. The cross dressed Bobby was standing in front of a wall with a map of Springfield on it.
"Well, Bobby as we can see tonight we're going to have clear skies, there won't be a cloud in the sky" he said in a very bad attempt at a woman's voice.
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 8 minutes.'
"Except maybe..." he... she... it... added "...A mushroom cloud!" and she cackled loudly and insanely for ten whole seconds before calmly down and adding "have a nice day." And the camera fell and became inactive.
Bobby swirled around in the familiar tornado and emerged back in his original form with his long multicoloured jacket. He now had a microphone in his hand and he approached the three Simpsons with an air of a TV show host. "Well Simpsons, you have but one life line left." He said as his face adopted an evil glint to it "That's contacting your government to see if they will accept my demands."
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 7 minutes.'
"Hmm. Not much time left" Bobby said idly to himself "Let's watch some TV!" and from his pockets he produced a rather large TV set and set it down in front of the Simpsons and turned it on before coming to stand between Bart and Lisa and gazed at that TV with an expectant look.
On the screen was Kent Brockman clearly trying to keep his cool under the circumstances. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have just heard from an unconfirmed source that the Springfield nuclear plant is about to go critical in about seven minutes. The explosion is going to kill everything and everyone." From somewhere off screen there came the noise of panic and destruction from the news crew. "The only other piece of news is the mystery of why on earth I'm sitting here still reporting to you doomed idiots when I can take the News helicopter and leave all you drunken asses to your doom."
Suddenly a figure came into the picture with Kent. It was Bobby! Lisa looked to her right where Bobby should be but he was gone!
"You want a really good reason?" he said to Brockman as an almighty bang could be heard off screen and a large piece of ceiling tile fell and slammed onto Brockman's desk followed by the tail wing of a helicopter with the letter six clearly printed on it. "That good enough for you?" and with that Bobby zoomed off and reappeared at Bart's side just seconds later. The TV screen then fizzled out to be replaced by a white screen showing a picture of Bobby viciously severing an electrical wire with his teeth, under that picture was the caption "We are currently experiencing technical difficulties."
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 6 minutes.'
Suddenly Bobby passed their line of sight now holding a telephone up to his left ear that didn't appear to be connected to anything because the cord was cut halfway down, yet he was clearly talking to someone on the other end.
"Hello, Joe Quimby" he said "What do you think of my performance, a little too much perhaps?"
"Now you listen here you green faced lunatic" Lisa heard the mayor say over the phone "This government and this town does 'not' negotiate with terrorists."
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 5 minutes.' as the computer said this loud warning sirens started bellowing out of every corner of the room.
There was silence on the other side of the line for a moment before Quimby spoke again "Okay, name your demands and they're yours."
"I only want one thing from the people of Springfield" Bobby said before shouting down the line "I WANT YOU ALL DO DIE HORRIBLY!" and he slammed the phone down on the console and the handheld phone shattered into a million pieces. He cackled like a loon again holding his hands up to the air and proclaiming. "Nothing in the world can stop me now AHAHAHAHA!" his eyes were filled with clear insanity "Soon my criminal record will be wiped clean from all computers in Springfield and I can start this world on a clean slate, soon I will be rid on the bane of my life for good, soon every bug eyed, yellow skinned character in this town will be obliterated once and for all. Soon, I... Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, Sideshow Bob will be free at long last, AHAHAHAAAHAHAA!" and he cackled like an utter loon.
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 4 minutes.'
This was her last chance, Lisa had formed a plan in her head. It was a feeble one and it wasn't likely to work but Bob had fallen for simpler tricks in the past. Her plan sounded insane and it started off in an insane manner because she started to giggle, giggle under her duct tape gag. A giggle of ridicule aimed at Bobby.
"What?" Bobby asked forcefully as she just continued to giggle and giggle. Lisa had a brief glance at Bart, though he couldn't speak she knew he probably thought she'd cracked up and totally lost it.
Clearly infuriated by this Bobby stamped over to Lisa, grabbed her duct tape gag and ripped it off with such force Lisa thought her lips might've been ripped off. But despite this pain she forced herself to continue to giggle, because this all rested on how well she could pull this off.
"You're not Sideshow Bob" she said forcing herself to drain all the fear from her voice and look Bobby in the eyes.
"What?" he bellowed, his inhuman sounding, echoing voice gave that word even more outrage then Bob was giving them. "Of course I'm Sideshow Bob."
"You're not Sideshow Bob" Lisa giggled again "Sideshow Bob would never have been able to break into the Springfield Nuclear plant. He wouldn't have the intelligence to even sneak past the guards with a kid in his arms or know how to work the controls to raise the cadmium control rods."
"But I tell you I am Sideshow Bob!" Bobby said looming over Lisa in a threatening manner, but Lisa forced her fear aside. She had to control it, her plan hinged on how well she could act this part.
"Sideshow Bob has tried to kill Bart and myself and our family and the entire population of Springfield countless times. But in all those times Sideshow Bob has always come up with an original way of attempting it despite failing. Using a nuclear bomb to kill an entire town, holding us hostage so on one will come and stop you. Cleaver and sinister maybe, but Bob's done it all before. I can say one thing about Bob and that is he never gives a repeat performance, he's an original."
Bobby was now leaning over Lisa with hate burning in his eyes. He tipped her chair back and peered into her eyes so intently that it would've burnt her to a crisp.
"I AM Sideshow Bob!" Bobby proclaimed again gripping her wrists so tightly it was difficult to stop herself yelping. "What other person would want Bart dead so badly?"
"Well let's see, there's Principle Skinner, Groundskeeper Willy, Comic Book Guy after he left a finger print smudged on a number one issue of the Green Lantern, there's also Mr. Burns and Smithers who'll want Bart dead for so many things." Lisa said continuing to rattle off a list of names, though half of the names she said were just made up it seemed to have the right effect.
Bobby set Lisa's chair down, released he wrists which were starting to go numb and turned to Bart, he reached out and ripped the duct tape gag from Bart's mouth.
"You know I'm Sideshow Bob don't you?" Bart hesitated unsure of what to do. "Umm..." If Lisa could've stamped on his foot she would have, as it was she could only move her feet a little so it was just over the front of his left shoe and she pressed down hard and gave Bart a sideways look to get him to play along.
"I'm not so sure" Bart said finding some form of cool in this situation. "You could be Sideshow Bob..."
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 3 minutes.' They didn't have much time.
"...But I'd put my money on Skinner. He was pretty P. when I put Viagra in his coffee." He chuckled "I've never seen him so mad when he pulled me into his office the next day. I didn't know what it was until he told me, and it was strong stuff, he said he couldn't remove his shorts until after midnight!"
"I AM Sideshow Bob!" Bobby proclaimed again. It appeared to be working as he took a step back fuming over his two greatest enemies not knowing who he was. His pride was always Sideshows greatest weakness.
"No Bart" Lisa said adding more fuel to the fire "I bet its Bumblebee man"
"I am Sideshow Fricken' Bob!" Bobby shouted, the room actually shook with the force of his voice and his irises looked like they were about to burst into flames.
"Prove it!" both Bart and Lisa shouted together.
"You want proof?" Bobby yelled coming closer to them his eyes still ablaze in anger "You want proof? Watch closely" he said as he raised his hands behind his head "I'll give you little bastards proof!"
Bobby pulled on the edges of the Mask and it started to peel away from his face and it folded itself up into wooden crevasses. A strong gale blew from his body as a whirl wind surrounded his form stripping him of his multicoloured coat which became a dusty looking tattered suit and tie.
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 2 minutes.'
His hair fell and became curly. Bobby's angry looking face began to harden and crust over into green painted wood and the expression morphed back into the mischievous looking expression the inert wooden form of the Mask had. It let go of Bob's face with a snap and the gale stopped leaving Sideshow Bob powerless.
"Is this proof enough for you?" he fumed holding the wooden mask in his left hand and pointing to his face with his right.
"Plenty!" Lisa shouted in triumph because Bob had made one critical error. Without the powers of the Mask of Loki he was not only powerless and vulnerable, but whatever he'd conjured up using the Mask's powers had vanished the moment he removed it. So the camera, the studio looking area, all that vanished, but most importantly so had Bart, Lisa and Homer's rope bonds and gags because Bob had conjured them up using the powers of the Mask.
With Bob leaning over them Lisa kicked out trying to catch the Mask with her foot, but her kick went wide and caught Bob straight in the groin. Bob bent over heavily exhaling in pain as Bart administered a kick of his own aimed at Bob's belly. This missed as well but instead hit the Mask clean on its chin forcing it from Bob's grasp.
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 60 seconds.'
Bart leapt up off the chair to give chase to the Mask as it flew and spun like a Frisbee through the air, but Bob reached out and grabbed Bart's ankle causing him to fall forward onto all fours. Homer also got up, but when he saw the way Bob had grabbed Bart's neck and started squeezing in a mad rage Homer decided to break up the fight, mostly because he said Bob was "doing it all wrong" that left Lisa to run past the three of them and chase after the Mask as it whirled further and further away from them, it didn't appear to be dropping and almost looked like it was hovering while twirling in the air.
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 50 seconds.'
Suddenly the Mask fell, impacted the floor and bounced through an open door into the reactor room and Lisa put as much effort as she could into her short legs to catch the Mask up before it fell into the reactor pool. Perhaps it would keep Bob from getting at it again but there was a few very good reasons why it was best if it didn't fall into the reactor.
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 40 seconds.'
One, Lisa didn't know what would happen if it did. It had seemed fairly indestructible with all the other destructive methods she threw at it but with all that power locked inside such a small object it might cause an explosion big enough to rip the planet in two if the reactor managed to release that energy. Second, she didn't know how to operate the consoles to stop the reactor going critical and the Mask might be their only chance of stopping it with only 40 seconds left.
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 30 seconds.'
The Mask impacted the floor again and started sliding along it towards the cooling pool. She was close to it but not close enough, it was going to fall in. But in one final desperate attempt Lisa dived at the Mask as it teetered on the edge of the pool. She fell onto the smooth floor and slid fast across it using her feet to gradually slow herself down. If she fell into the reactor she'd probably be killed in seconds, if she didn't catch the Mask then she'd be dead in seconds anyway. Her hands reached out, her fingers desperately trying to grasp the Mask.
'Warning, reactor overload. Plant will go critical in 25 seconds.'
The Mask started falling, it fell over the edge. But Lisa came to a halt just before her torso started to cross over the point of no return and her hands loosely caught the Mask in her grasp. The craggy feeling wood was a welcome feeling to her, she had it back again.
'20 seconds.' The warning continued. Though she now had the Mask that didn't leave much time.
Lisa pushed herself away from the pool edge and rolled over onto her back. She gazed up at the Mask, its mischievous features peering down at her. She really didn't want to do this, but she had no choice. She gulped.
"Listen" she said addressing the inert wood but was really addressing the thing it would turn her into "I know we've had our differences but my... 'our' family is in danger and so is our town."
'15 seconds.'
"I don't care what you make me do anymore, I don't care if you won't let me have control again, I don't care if I remain as you forever. Just please!" tears started welling up in her eyes because she knew if she put it on she might never be herself, she might never be Lisa Simpson ever again, but if she didn't then soon there wouldn't be a Lisa Simpson at all, nor a Simpson family, nor a Springfield. She sniffed "Please..." she repeated through her sobs "just save everyone."
She turned the Mask over so she was facing the inside of it and could see the ominous green glow trying to trick her into putting it on. But this time she didn't need tricking because she fully intended to put it on again.
She lowered the Mask to her face. Everything was in slow motion at this moment, the second that ticked by felt like hours. She gulped because there was a doubt in her mind that 'she' her other self simply would not cooperate. But surely there was some shred of decency in that other persona of hers, wasn't there? Lisa couldn't decide, but it was too late now, she was already committed to what she was about to do.
'10 seconds'
She shut her eyes as she felt the Masks cold surface touch her face and the following warmth as it started to fuse to her skin. It began wrapping her head as if it was giving her a 'welcome back' kind of hug and just before the change started a twisted sounding voice from deep within her mind said one phrase coolly and confidently.
"It's show time"
To Be Continued...
Authors notes: I've taken some artistic licence with the construction of a power plant. In reality the core would never be left in such an exposed space and would be sealed inside a giant concrete dome to contain the energy released. So please don't rely on this chapter to help you with your exams :D ;).
Originally I was going to have Marge and Maggie in the control room with the rest of the Simpsons, but it was proving far too difficult to write Marge or Maggie into the story at this stage and they just felt pretty useless when considering what was going on around them, so I decided to leave them out and let it focus mainly on Homer, Lisa and Bart.
-Hope you all enjoyed the new chapter.