When Exposés Attack (Part 2)
When Exposés Attack
Part 2: Reporter Hides;
Yachts Sabotaged?
At her mansion
on the outskirts of Mason City, Iowa, first-grade teacher Ashley Brighton
was enjoying the summer vacation from school. After another successful
year of teaching students, she wanted to relax and worry about the new
year come late August.
Eating
lunch cooked by her reliable butler George, she was watching different
channels in hopes of finding something good on television. She then
switched to the Sensa-News channel, where she heard Duke Paparazzo's voice.
"Hmm, what's that warped reporter up to now?" she asked herself as she
started to hit "record" on her remote control.
As she
took a sip of her soda, she heard Paparazzo say, "I think you'll find my
exposé on Angela Jacobs very insightful."
That caused
her to spit out her drink and yell, "WHAT!?"
George
then ran into the living room. "Ashley, what's the matter?"
"That madman
of a reporter's doing an exposé on my little sister!" After
seeing the full report, she became further enraged. "I don't believe
this! That whole thing is a fabrication on her!" She then stepped
up from the sofa and grabbed the telephone.
"What are
you doing now, Ashley?" George asked curiously.
"I'm gonna
call the one reporter who has always reported the truth." After dialing
the number, she simply said, "My name is Ashley Brighton, and I would like
to speak to Carrie Jones, please. Tell her I have a breaking story
and that this is very important."
At the building
of television station KMCO, a woman with brown hair and blue eyes looked
into the camera and said, "That's it for the 12:00 News. Come back
at 6 for more news throughout Mason City and the world."
The director
said, "Okay, cut. Nice job, Carrie. See you at 5 to be ready
at six."
"Thanks,
Jerry."
In the
control room, Jerry answered the telephone. "Yes?" Hearing
the information carefully from the secretary, he spoke into his microphone.
"Carrie, you've got a telephone call from an Ashley Brighton, and she's
saying this is very important."
"Okay,
let me get to my office and I'll pick up there."
Carrie
Jones quickly ran to her workplace and answered her telephone. "Hello?"
"Miss Jones,
this is Ashley Brighton. I need to ask you this question, have you
received telephone calls yet about an exposé on Angela Jacobs?"
Carrie
was very surprised. "An exposé…on Angela? No, why?"
"You may
start to get flooded with calls at the station. I managed to record
the entire story on videodisk. Would you like to see it for yourself?"
"Miss Brighton,
you're one of this city's best citizens. I can tell you're not making
this up. I'll meet you at your house in 30 minutes." The anchor
hung up her phone and started leaving in a hurry.
Jerry was
a little concerned. "Hey, why're you rushing off for? You can
relax a little."
"Not if
someone has done an exposé on female magician Angela Jacobs.
Remember, Mason City is her hometown. Get your office ready for a
possible flooding of calls, okay?"
"Gotcha,
Carrie."
As she
ran towards the entrance, she noticed the secretary struggling with the
telephone. "Let me guess, the flood of calls about Angela Jacobs,
right?"
"How did
you know that?"
"I got
the first one today, and this could be a major story. Tell all the
callers that I'm on the case already."
She then
jumped into her car and took off for Ashley Brighton's house.
Ashley stood
at her front door and noticed Carrie coming rapidly in her car into the
driveway.
The KMCO
reporter got out of the car and came up to the teacher. "Hello, Miss
Brighton."
"I'm so
glad you came," Ashley said in shaking her hand. "Oh, and just call
me Ashley."
"Only if
you call me Carrie and not 'Miss Jones'. Now, what's the deal about
an exposé on Angela Jacobs?"
"I saw
Duke Paparazzo's phoney report he did on Angie. Here, look at this
vid disk."
After looking
carefully at the video disk for five minutes, Carrie was shocked.
"I know I'm supposed to be a professional when it comes to being a reporter,
but I can't help but saying…that slime! Duke Paparazzo has the reputation
of trying to ruin people, and now he's gone way too far. The station's
already getting the flood of telephone calls about it."
"I know,
and I wouldn't be surprised if Angie out west is having trouble with this
right now."
Back at
the Magic Express in Electro City, Angie, still locked away in her room
after seeing her own false exposé, put her face on the pillow and
cried badly. "It's no use," she muttered to herself. "I can't
show my face in public anymore. People will believe Paparazzo's story."
Outside
the room, Ace and Cosmo tried to reason with her to open the door.
"C'mon,
Angie," said a worried Cosmo. "We know you're not that type of person
Paparazzo's made you out to be. Let us in, please."
Ace used
mind-to-mind contact to talk with her. Kindred sister, please
let us in. We both know that was all a lie, and we still love you.
He's just getting revenge for your scolding him about the boat situation.
You had every right to be upset at him. I understand how you feel,
Angie. Just, don't lock yourself away from us. We can help
you deal with this problem.
The female
magician was still very upset when she heard her parents' voices in her
heart.
"Listen
to him, Angie," said her mother Nancy. "A terrible wrong has been
done to you, but don't let that destroy the friendships you have built
since you came to Electro City. Your friends are always there for
you as you are for them."
Her
father Robert agreed. "False exposés have been done before,
but I never thought it could be done to our own daughter. However,
instead of locking yourself in your room, come back, stronger and better
than ever before. Let your friends help you out. Believe me,
it'll be the best way to deal with this kind of situation. In addition,
people back home may have seen this and may be very upset themselves at
what that reporter has done to you."
"Thanks,
Mom and Dad. You're right. I'm not going to let Paparazzo stop
me from living my life."
She then
sat up and looked at the door. "Come in, guys."
The second
the door opened, Ace came up and cuddled his kindred sister. "I know
this hurts deeply right now, what that reporter's done to you. He
made everything up, saying you were a juvenile delinquent with no parents
in Boston. Since Paparazzo didn't have a lot of information on you,
he decided to make it all up."
"Yeah,"
Angie noted, "but most people are going to believe that story."
"On the
contrary. Most people in Electro City know what a wonderful person
you really are. In fact, don't be surprised if a kind of rally crowd
starts coming together and goes after Paparazzo himself."
"Oh, boy,
that's the last thing needed, more people seeking revenge."
Ace then
sent a thought to her. Will you try to seek revenge against him?
No,
never. I am not a vengeful person. Revenge is no solution
to a problem. "Speaking of problems, I wonder how Vega's doing
about the yacht situation? I'm thinking about heading to police headquarters."
Cosmo was
surprised. "You mean…you want to get to the bottom of this?"
"Yes, I
do, Cosmo. I refuse to let Paparazzo's rotten report stop me from
helping out in determining what's causing the yachts to short out."
Ace smiled
at her proudly. "I'm glad you feel that way, Angie. How about
we go with you?"
Just then,
a pointed pink-purplish hologram appeared in front of everyone. "Ace,
there are four calls coming in: Senator Dobbs, Lieutenant Vega, Kelly Wilders
from the Sensa-News Network, and Ashley Brighton form Mason City."
"Okay,
thanks, Angel. We'll take each call in the computer room."
Putting
the top priority last, being Lieutenant Vega, he started with Senator Dobbs.
"What can I do for you, Senator?"
"I can't
believe Paparazzo has done this to your friend Angie. It's so unfair
that someone so kindhearted and true was subjected to something this awful."
"I can
understand that, sir. However, you may have to worry about possible
riots in the city as a result of this."
"Agreed.
I've already informed Friedrichs to have riot squads ready for action.
Meanwhile, what will Angie be doing this afternoon?"
The female
magician answered herself. "I'm going to continue what I do best,
practicing for upcoming shows, helping others, and most importantly, living
my life. I am not going to wither away because of this. The
first person I believe is myself."
"Good.
Well, I'm going to see if I can calm the city down for now."
Ace then
took the call from Kelly Wilders, the head of the Sensa-News Network.
"How's the TV business?"
"Not so
good at the moment," the station head answered regretfully. "Paparazzo's
overstepped his bounds this time with that report of his. Unfortunately,
once he finished that report, he ran off, and we haven't seen him since."
"Might
be for the best right now. Riots could start all over the place as
a result of this."
"Yeah,
we've been getting pounded with call after call about Angie, and threats
have actually started coming to us. I mean—"
"It's not
your fault, Mr. Wilders. You took over when Schoendorf was thrown
in prison for his involvement in the deadly game show, and I know you've
been doing the best you can to clean the network's reputation. I'm
not going to place blame on the entire network on account of one rotten
apple."
"Thanks,
Ace. I promise you this, if we do find Paparazzo, I'm going to demand
that he apologizes to Angie in public on live TV." Wilders then saw
Angie. "I am so sorry this happened to you. You didn't deserve
this."
"I understand,"
she said with a smile. "I'm with Ace. I'm not going to blame
all of you for this."
Ace then
said, "I hate to go so suddenly, but we've got two more calls coming in,
and both of them are important."
"Not a
problem. We'll do our part to keep everybody calm as best we can."
Call number
three came from Angie's best friend, Ashley Brighton. "Angie, are
you all right? I saw the report and—"
"I'm okay,
Ashley. I was shocked and very disheartened at first, but I've got
my friends to make sure I am doing fine in all this chaos. What about
you?"
"Well,
let's just say people here in Mason City aren't taking this so well, since
everybody knows you came from here, not Boston. However, there is
some good news. Remember Carrie Jones?"
"The best
reporter at KMCO? You bet! She always gets to the truth of
a story, no matter how weird it sounds, like this one."
"Well,
I told her about the situation, and she's agreed to help come up with a
counter exposé, showing the real truth about you and your life.
Is that okay with you?"
"Could
I talk to her?"
"Yeah,
she's right here."
Angie then
noticed the reporter. "Hello, Miss Jones. It's nice to see
you again."
"Same here,
but I'm just upset at what Paparazzo's done to you. I'd like to do
a real exposé on you, one that shows just how good you really are.
May I ask for permission?"
"Better
than that, it's okay to do it. It's time people knew who I really
was. Now, we need to get through one more telephone call."
"Of course.
Thanks, Angie."
"Anytime."
Finally,
Vega was on the phone. "Hey, what happened? Getting loads of
calls?"
Ace sarcastically
said, "Wouldn't you get a lot of calls if an exposé was done on
a close friend of yours?"
"You mean,
Paparazzo did one on you?"
"Not on
me, on Angie. Things have gotten a little out of hand in the last
hour."
"Oh, sorry.
Angie, um, are you okay enough to come to the police dock? I think
your telemetric power may be useful on the boat. We've looked it
twice with the computer, and all we got was a slightly burned brake line.
Maybe your power could help us figure out if there were anything else and
possibly prove there was sabotage involved."
"Yeah,
I'm well enough, Vega. I can't let an exposé stop me from
doing my job here in Electro City. We'll meet you there ASAP."
"Great,
Angie. See you there."
Ace was
surprised the phone calls got through. "Angel, we're leaving now.
If any other calls come in, tell the callers we're not available for about
two hours."
"I will
notify them immediately, Ace," said the soft-toned AI.
"Okay,
let's go."
Ace, Angie,
Cosmo, and Zina ran into the garage and gathered into the Magic Racer.
In seconds, the Racer left the garage and was on its way to the police
dock.
Meanwhile,
Duke Paparazzo himself kept running as far from the station as he possibly
could. "I need to get in disguise somehow," he panted desperately.
Seeing
a costume shop on his path, he stopped in. "Excuse me, but do you
have any black hair spray I can use? I need it in a hurry."
"Yeah,
here it is," said the proprietor. "It's 4.95. I suggest you
get some mousse, too, make your hair stand down a little bit."
"Fine,
I'll take that, too." He then noticed the perfect disguise.
"Um, how much is that outfit, the one that looks like a hobo going from
train to train?"
"It's $40
to rent, $100 if you want to keep it."
Paparazzo
gave him the $200 electrodollars and took the costume. "Rest is a
tip!"
After leaving
the store in a hurry, he ran to the nearest spot with a mirror, switched
into the costume, and quickly applied the spray to change his hair color
from blonde into black. He then applied the mousse to get his hair
downward. "There," he said as he looked in the mirror. "Now
nobody'll recognize me."
Taking
his wallet out of his coat pocket and placing it into his pants pocket,
he then came out into the open and noticed a crowd of screaming people
coming towards him.
An angry
gentleman came up to him and asked, "Have you seen Duke Paparazzo?"
Changing
his voice to sound more like an older person, he said, "No, sonny, I haven't.
What did he do?"
"He did
one of the most horrifying exposés I've ever seen in my life, on
female magician Angela Jacobs. She's too kindhearted to be what he
said she was, a Boston juvenile delinquent. We want to find him and
stone him, but good!"
Paparazzo
realized just how much trouble he was in now. Oh, man, this is
serious. I'd better lead them in the wrong direction for now.
"I think I saw him going east on 46th Street."
"Thanks,
pal." Turning to the mob of angry citizens, he said, "Let's get him!"
After they
ran off to find him, Paparazzo decided his best course of action was to
stay in the costume. "I'll have to get rid of my own outfit till
the smoke clears on this matter."
He then
took his normal pink jacket, off-white slacks, and blue shoes and threw
them in the dumpster.
Paparazzo
finally understood the gist of the situation and knew he would have to
stay as low-profile as possible.
At the police
dock, Ace and his friends arrived to meet up with Vega. Of course,
Zina had to stay in the Racer because of the pets rule.
Vega gave
them all warm greetings. "Good to see all of you, and especially
you, Angie. Someone at the station told me about the exposé
Paparazzo did on you, and there have already been reports of at least 300
people going after him."
"I wish
I could do something, but right now, there's a mystery here, and it has
to do with the Sawyers' boat."
"Right.
Maybe with your telemetric powers, we could figure out if sabotage is a
factor in this and the other boats, too."
As they
walked up to the boat in question, Angie knew to expect something bad because
in most instances where her telemetry came to life, anything bad would
come as a terrifying "flare."
Reaching
the boat, Vega turned to Angie. "All right, Angie. It's all
yours."
"Okay,
here goes."
She placed
her right hand on the boat and immediately gasped in terror as her power
flared to life once more.
Vega grew
concerned. "Angie?"
"It's okay,"
Ace said in a low tone. "This is expected when it's something unpleasant."
Getting
her breathing under control, images soon began forming within her mind.
"What can
you see in your visions right now, Angie?" asked the Magician.
"I see…many
boats, like in a manufacturing plant. This one is in preparation
to be delivered to Mr. and Mrs. Sawyers. I see people and some robots
working on the boat." Then, she noticed a robot near the brake line
of the boat. "Wait, this robot, the one in charge of making the brake
line taut…it's actually making a burn in part of the brake line…intentionally,
like it was programmed to do so."
"I don't
understand that," Vega said in confusion. "I know that manufacturing
plant. It's the only one in Electro City, but those robots are all
working on the boats."
"Unless,"
interrupted Ace, "that was a custom-built boat with certain specifications.
Wouldn't special robots be used to make those types?"
"Yes, of
course. You think maybe those particular robots may be faulty or
something?"
"Wait,
I see something else nearby," Angie noted as she continued with her vision.
"A…list of people."
Cosmo then
questioned, "Well, who's on the list?"
"Mr. and
Mrs. Sawyers, Professor Surge, Jack Malone, Sonny Boy Surge, Jason Beager,
Zelda LeMond, and Nesh Divine."
"Two crime
bosses, the professor, a current businessman, a former businessman and
his wife, a model, and a singer?"
"Wait a
minute," Vega realized. "Mr. and Mrs. Sawyers' boat is the one intact.
The other six people had their yachts blow up before we could save the
boats as evidence."
Ace then
turned to Angie. "Is there anything else you see?"
"No, but
I can hear a voice, saying, 'They will all pay for what they did to me.'"
"Can you
tell who's saying it?"
"No.
I can tell by the tone this is a young woman who is out to get even, but
I don't understand why she's connected to seven different people."
Vega was
going to say something when he heard the radio. "Vega, it's Miss
LeSage."
"What is
it?"
"Friedrichs
wants you back here immediately. The riot crowd is building rapidly,
and all searching for Paparazzo."
"Damn!
Okay, tell him I'm on the way." He looked at the others. "Sorry,
everybody."
"No problem,
dude," said Cosmo. "We'll take care of this case. You help
Friedrichs with the mob."
"Thanks."
The lieutenant left Ace and the others alone.
Angie's
vision started to fade. "Oh, no, don't disappear yet, please."
Everything blurred away, and the vision was gone. She faced her friends.
"Sorry, guys. I can't see anything else."
Cosmo reassured
her. "It's okay, Angie. We got some major clues out of it."
"Yes,"
concurred Ace, "and we now know someone is out to get all these individuals.
I suggest our next step is to check with most of the people on the list.
Angie, I want you to talk with Zelda and Nesh. Cosmo, you find Beager
and Professor Surge. Me, I'm going to talk with Mona and Shackles
about the crime bosses' yachts. They may be able to shed more light
on the problem without my having to talk to both crime bosses in the process."
"Sounds
like a plan to me," said Angie happily.
"Hold it,"
interrupted Cosmo. "Can I ask for one little switch? I want
Zelda and Nesh."
Ace rolled
his eyes and said, "Okay, Cosmo. You get Zelda and Nesh, and
Angie can talk with Beager and Professor Surge."
Angie realized
what was going on with Cosmo's request. I take it he's a big fan
of Zelda LeMond and Nesh Divine?
You
realize correctly, Angie. You don't mind, do you?
Nah,
I'm okay with it. We'd better get to work on this. Poor Vega,
having to help with the developing riot situation. "Time to get
to work."
The three
went back into the Racer and left for their respected destinations.
Vega went
into Friedrichs's office a little steamed. "Captain, we have this
yacht mystery to deal with. Why do you want me to control the mob
situation?"
"Look,
Vega, right now our immediate concern is making sure the crowd doesn't
get out of control. I want you to set up a perimeter around Paparazzo's
home, since his life is in danger."
"Someone
is out to kill some important people in our city by sabotaging the yachts."
"Oh, and
how did you deduce that, Lieutenant? Did you have your friend Cooper
come in and look at the boat as carelessly as he does everything else?"
"No, I
let Angie take a look at it."
"I'm surprised
she would show her face, since I knew she was just a juvenile delinquent."
Vega became
infuriated. "You are actually dumb enough to believe Paparazzo's
exposé on Angie!?"
"Well,
she's just like that other young man in the group, a troublemaker."
"You'd
better look at her record just a little more carefully, Captain.
You'd be very surprised." He then stormed out of the office.
Friedrichs
growled, "Stubborn Vega. It's no wonder he's still stuck at the rank
of Lieutenant."
Vega then
went into his office, where Miss LeSage gave him the reports so far on
Paparazzo's situation. "I guess things aren't going so well."
"No, Miss
LeSage, I'm afraid not. He actually thinks Angie is just as much
trouble as Cosmo."
"What!?
I've got a good mind to—"
"Don't.
I've had to put up with him so much, but I can handle it. I'm going
to take up the Paparazzo case while I let Ace handle the yacht problem."
"What information
did you get?"
"Angie's
telemetry tells us the yachts in question were sabotaged, but we don't
know anything else at this point." He then started walking out and
added, "I want you to check out information about anyone who's been employed
by the following people: Miles and Nadine Sawyers, Jack Malone, Professor
Jonathan Surge, Sonny Boy Surge, Jason Beager, Zelda LeMond, and Nesh Divine."
"That particular
list?"
"Yes.
That may hold a key as to who the saboteur is."
"I'll get
on it immediately. Be careful."
"Don't
worry, I'll be fine." He stepped out of the office to get to his
new assignment.
Ace dropped
Angie off at Surge Laboratories so she could talk with Professor Jonathan
Surge about his yacht being destroyed.
She entered
the building in hopes of finding the professor. Oddly enough, she
saw both Professor Surge and Jason Beager stepping out of the elevator
on the main floor.
"Professor
Surge?" Angie said calmly.
He noticed
the young magician. "Angie, hello. What brings you here today?"
"Um, actually,
I need to talk to both of you, something to do with a yacht you each owned?"
Beager
and Surge looked at each other in confusion.
The CEO
of Beager Electronics looked at her and said, "Well, I did own a yacht,
but it didn't last a week before it was blown in an accidental explosion."
"I did,
too," the professor noted. "I was taking it along the bay when it
had major problems. I bailed out just in time before it exploded.
Why do you want to know this?"
"Well,
both of you and four other people all had yachts blow up, and Ace and I
both feel it's way too much to be a coincidence."
"Yes, one
of those four others is my son. He also bought a personal yacht for
himself, but like Jason's, his blew up as well."
"I see.
The police couldn't get any major clues out of it?"
Beager
quickly replied, "Nope. There wasn't enough evidence to use for anything.
What are you saying?"
"I'm saying…someone
may have deliberately sabotaged all the yachts for some type of revenge."
The two
gentlemen looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
Professor
Surge patted Angie's shoulder. "I think you and Ace are certainly
onto something. Seven yachts, and six blow up. You were lucky
to get that seventh one unscathed."
"Yeah,
I know. Oh, how's the research on the dimensional device going?"
"It's been
great, so great in fact I've signed a contract with Mr. Beager here to
help us make some more chips that are small enough to get even more information.
You were a big help before, Angie, and I've never forgotten that."
"Thanks.
I think I got all the info I wanted about this situation. Ace and
Cosmo are checking out the others in the process." She looked at
her watch. "I hope I'm not holding you up from anything."
"No," said
Beager happily. "We just ended our contract negotiations meeting.
You're okay, trust me."
"Thank
you, Mr. Beager. I'd better go. I need to get this information
to Ace and the others fast. If I need anything else, can I ask you
for that, or is that too much?"
The professor
smiled and shook his head. "Angie, it's okay with us. If you
need more information, don't hesitate to let us know."
"Thanks,
Professor. So long." She then walked out of the building and
called for a taxi to get her back to the Magic Express.
Meanwhile,
Cosmo visited the home of his model friend, Zelda LeMond, who just happened
to have singer Nesh Divine over to discuss plans for a new music video.
"That's
the problem," he said, "we think somebody is trying to take you all out
by sabotaging the yachts you purchased."
"Interesting,"
Zelda noted. "All the time I thought I did something wrong with the
boat. You know my 'need for speed'."
Nesh added,
"Yeah, and you explained about others losing their special yachts as well,
so it looks like these aren't accidents after all. So, now what should
we do?"
"Well,
I'm not sure for now, but, like, if we need anything else, can I call ya
both?"
"Sure,
we'll be here all afternoon planning the music video for my next song,
so it's okay to call."
"Thanks.
Still got a couple more places to get to. Better run."
Cosmo ran
to Ace in the Racer and said, "They also had sabotaged boats themselves."
"Angie's
back at the Express already with some info from Beager and Professor Surge.
They said they also had problems with their boats on the first voyage.
This is definitely a case of sabotage, but we don't know who's behind all
this right now. Our next stop is the Adele Department Store in the
DNA Club/Mall, since that's where Shackles is working now since being paroled
for good behavior."
In a few
minutes, the gentlemen entered the store to find Shackles. They located
him in the men's clothing department.
"Ace, Cosmo,
good to see you guys," the reformed swindler said happily. "I'm just
starting my afternoon break right now. So, what's going on?"
"Well,"
stated Ace, "it has to do with your old job with Sonny Boy. Do you
remember him purchasing a custom-designed yacht, only for it to blow up
on its first voyage?"
"Yeah,
I do remember that. When I was to join up with him and his gang,
he invited me on his yacht, but something went wrong with it, and we had
to jump ship just before it detonated. The police showed up to make
sure nobody was hurt, but the boat was too far gone to get any sign of
sabotage or whatever."
"We think
the yachts were sabotaged by someone who messed with the robots at the
manufacturing plant. Do you know anything else?"
Thinking
carefully, Shackles shook his head. "No, that's all I got for now.
All I can remember, anyway. Sorry."
"That's
cool," said Cosmo. "Thanks, man."
"Anytime.
I'm really gettin' the hang of being a good person. I owe that to
you, Cosmo, and Angie. I, um, saw that exposé on Angie.
I don't think any of that mess is true, is it?"
"Nope,
none of that's true. That creep Paparazzo wants to destroy her reputation."
"Well,
the place is buzzing with people who don't believe it and those who actually
believe that nut."
Ace affirmed,
"Don't worry. Someone in Angie's hometown is working on a exposé
which will reveal the truth about Angie. Believe me, sometime in
the next few hours, her reputation will be restored."
"I hope
so. She's too good of a person to get treated like this. I'm
glad she pushed that idiot into the bay when he went after her instead
of talking to the two boating victims. Anyway, good luck with the
yacht problem."
"Thanks,
Shackles. You've been very helpful to us."
As Ace
and Cosmo left the store to return to the Racer, they both understood the
brunt of the two problems.
"Man, Angie's
getting her share of bad luck because of this exposé."
"I know."
Concentrating on Angie's heart, he added, "She wants to help out with the
yacht mystery, but I can feel her heart is still in a lot of pain because
of the lies. I'm going to check on her."
He then
reached out to his kindred sister telepathically. Angie, are you
doing all right?
Yeah,
but you can tell just how much I hurt in my heart. I'm scared my
own reputation will be destroyed forever.
Don't
worry, Angie. Carrie Jones will help you out, and the majority of
people here do believe you're not a former delinquent from Boston.
Just believe what is in your own heart, and you will get through this,
I promise.
Thanks,
kindred brother, for the words of encouragement. Now, where are you
and Cosmo going?
On our
way to Mona's. She's the last person we need to see for information
about the destroyed yachts. All the evidence is pointing towards
sabotage. We'll be back in time for dinner, I promise.
Okay,
I'll see you then.
"Let's
get to Mona's house."
Ace then
zoomed the Racer into high speed to get to the home of his childhood sweetheart,
Mona Malone.
Meanwhile,
Paparazzo was tiring out and was about to reach his own mansion when he
noticed a huge crowd outside the gate. "What's going on here?" he
asked himself. "Why are all these people in front of my home?"
Then, he noticed the riot squad. "Oh, great. How am I supposed
to get into my own home, when the police won't let anybody near it!?"
At least
500 people were desperately trying to get into Paparazzo's home to seriously
harm him.
"Let me
in!" screamed one woman. "I want to make sure he gets his, lying
about someone so sweet as Angie!"
An angry
gentleman shouted, "That stupid jerk! I've always liked Angela Jacobs,
and she's much too kindhearted to deserve to be treated like this!
I'll mangle that idiot!"
The riot
squad had a lot of trouble trying to keep them under control.
"I've got
to get into my own house somehow!" he said angrily to himself.
He then
started running for the gate and was quickly subdued by armored officers.
"Hold it,
friend!" shouted the officer-in-charge. "Nobody's getting in here,
and I mean nobody."
Paparazzo
considered taking out his wallet but realized that could be a major mistake.
I can't. If I take out my wallet, it'll give away the disguise.
I'd better do what they say, or I will get mangled! He then got up.
"Sorry, young man. I didn't mean to get so aggressive." He
then ran away, but not before his wallet accidentally fell out of his pocket.
The woman
who yelled earlier came and picked up the wallet. "Sir, wait!
You dropped your wallet!" Too far away at this point, she decided
to open it. "Maybe there's a telephone number in here, so I can call
him and tell him." She then realized about the clothes he wore.
"Could that kind of man have a wallet like this?" Upon looking at
his driver's license, she turned to the crowd and screamed, "We need to
catch that man! This wallet belongs to Duke Paparazzo! He may
know where that monster's hiding!"
The crowd
followed her in order to catch up with the mysterious man.
Paparazzo
soon took a rest in a nearby alley. "Whew, that was close.
I'm getting hungry." He then went to his pants pocket, only to discover
his wallet was gone. "What the—where's my wallet?" He then
remembered running away from his own home. "Shoot! I dropped
it when I ran away from my house!"
He heard
the angry mob approaching. "If one of those people found it, they'll
come looking for me!" Making a run for it, he started zigzagging
through the streets, desperately trying to find shelter.
The woman
who found the wallet was the first to notice. "There he goes!
Come on, after him!"
As Paparazzo,
still in disguise, was being chased by the angry mob, he started to realize
he had gone way too far in his unethical reporting. He finally understood
he was in danger of being harmed, or even…killed.