And Everything Nice
4.
Astro and Uran sat together on the bus on the way home from school. "What happened today Ani?" Uran asked, "I heard you got chewed out by Inspector Tawashi in the principals office."
"Yeah guess I shouldn't have gone hypersonic so low to the ground in a populated area," he said shrugging his shoulders, "the city's insurance company is going to have to fork out for all the windows I blew out."
"Why did you do that?" Uran asked.
"It's all Buttercup's fault." Astro moaned, "She goaded me into racing her back to school after we put out the fires in the downtown area today."
"I don't understand." Uran said.
"Er, you ever hear of the Power Puff girls?" Astro asked.
"Yeah, they're a bunch of teenage super heroes, I read about them in my Tigerbeat magazine."
"Oh, well in real life it seems that's who Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup really are." Astro said, "Who knew?"
"Wow!" Uran said.
"Of course, they had never heard of me." Astro added, "Can you imagine? They never heard of Astro Boy! I guess New Townsville is like a world apart from Metro City, even though one is a suburb of the other."
"By the way Ani, how did that fire get started?" Uran asked.
"I don't know." Astro said, "Tawashi probably had the fire department comb though the buildings looking for signs of arson by now. Something set off a blast in the excavation of an old gas station in the area, those old fuel tanks must have been leaking for years, so it could have just been an accident."
When Astro and Uran arrived home Inspector Tawashi's police car was parked in front of their house.
"Looks like we may find out some more, Ani." Uran said as they entered the house.
"Hello Astro," Tawashi said.
"Hi inspector. What's up?" Astro asked.
"Thought you'd like to know that fire wasn't an accident." The inspector said. "Early this morning there was a break in at the auction house and someone cut their way into the safe with a torch. It had all the markings of Acetylene Lamp's handiwork written all over it. We found the remains of welding gas cylinders in the rear basement of the building, along with ash from a cigar. We also found Skunk Kusai's prints on the doorknob of the rear of the building. Looks like the two of them teamed up and made off with about 10,000,000 Yen worth of diamonds."
"You mean they deliberately set that fire to cover their tracks?" Dr. O'Shay asked.
"I'm not sure." The inspector said, "there was a large pool of gasoline seeping into the basement from the excavation across the street, it looks like Skunk left a smoldering cigar in the basement not far from the area soaked in the fuel. He may have intended to set that fire, or he may have just been careless. I blame myself for not noticing it, we answered a call about the burglary just minutes before that fire started. If only I'd inspected the entire basement …. Astro, I'd like you to help us search the city for Kusai and Lamp. They could be anywhere now."
"Sure inspector." Astro said.
"Only you have school tomorrow, Astro." O'Shay said. "You can go out for a few hours, but not any longer than that."
"OK, Hakase" Astro sighed.
"Let me know if you find anything," The inspector said as he replaced his hat on his head and walked out.
"By the way Astro," Dr. O'Shay said, "I heard about your team work with the girls today."
"You know about the Power Puff Girls?" Astro asked."
"Yes, Dr. Utonium and I are good friends, though I haven't seen him for some time." O'Shay remarked. "I've offered him a job at the Institute, but he preferred to set up his own laboratory on the other side of city. He felt guilty about what happened last year and asked me to keep quiet about it, but I guess it's OK if you know the story."
"You mean about the girls?" Astro asked.
"Exactly," The doctor replied. "We had an unusually cold winter last year, which was probably caused by shifts in the upper atmosphere due to global warming. Several large glaciers broke free from the arctic and drifted south ending up in the harbor. It snowed for several weeks straight. Dr. Utonium and his son Ken had been working on a chemical that they thought could neutralize green house gases and they tried using in a particle beam cannon to reverse the effects of our unusually cold winter. Unfortunately there was an unseen side effect that resulted in the formation of strange EMP bursts in the tops of towering cumulonimbus clouds over the city which released what the professor later called "Z-rays" upon the city. Three teenagers were struck by those bursts, which caused strange mutations in their bodies, giving them unique abilities."
"The Power Puff girls?" Astro asked.
"Exactly," O'Shay said. "The same cloud also released negative Z-rays which caused less desirable mutations in other people, plants and animals. That has been hushed up and the details kept from the public. Only the New Townsville district was involved. The girls have manged to contain the problem, but they could use some help. That's why I had you transferred to school in that part of town."
Hamegg looked through the diamond paper envelopes, using a jeweler's eye loupe attached to his reading glasses to inspect the goods. "Very nice, but of course quite recognizable on the open market and too well known," he complained, "but I can have them re-cut and still make a profit." he added, scribbling a figure onto a scrap of paper and handing it to Skunk.
Skunk made a face and showed the slip to Lamp. "You've got to be shitting us, Hamegg," Lamp scowled. "That's only a tenth of the rocks value, and you know it! Besides, you owe me, if I hadn't put my neck on the line you'd still be pounding rocks in the pen."
Hamegg shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Well I suppose I could double my offer."
"Twice nothing is still nothing!" Lamp yelled.
"You'll triple your offer," Skunk smiled, "because you know we'll bring you some more business in the future that will be worth your while."
"You drive a hard bargain," Hamegg said, offering his hand in agreement. "Care to shake on the deal?"
"Fine." Lamp said. "In cash!"
"Of course." Hamegg said. He turned around to face a picture of the emperor that was hanging on the wall, and removed the framed portrait to reveal a wall safe. He quickly spun the combination and opening the safe removed a bound stack of bills which he quickly counted before handing them over to Skunk.
"You scoundrel!" Lamp said, "You knew what you would pay for those and had the money ready in advance!"
"I know how you guys think." Hamegg said, "So I left myself some room to let you have the satisfaction of haggling with me. It's a tradition."
Kusai and Lamp drove away in the old van. "First think I'm going to do with my share of the take is to trade this POS in on a new SUV," Lamp said.
"Let's see about finding ourselves a better place to stay." Skunk said. "I've had my eye on a nice flat on the nicer side of town for some time now. Looks like we will be able to afford it now." He handed Lamp a slip of paper with some writing on it. "Drive us over to this address and we'll check it out."
Lamp looked at the address and made a left turn at the next street. "Well this windfall won't last us forever," Lamp replied. "Any ideas for our next job?"
"Don't rush me, I'm working on it." Skunk replied.
A sudden gust of wind blew the van against the curb. Lamp struggled with the wheel as the sky seemed to turn black for an instant. There was a clap of thunder and both men passed as the equivalent of an electric shock passed though their bodies. A black Z ray had come down from the clouds and struck their vehicle head on.
Buttercup entered the laboratory to find Professor Utonium and Ken looking at a computer screen in a panic state. Bubbles and Blossom entered the room a few moments later, just as the professor noticed them.
"Good thing you guys decided to show up," Ken said, "A black cloud appeared on the radar out of nowhere and there have been two reported Z ray strikes already. We're trying to get a fix on the last one now."
"Great." Blossom sighed, "The fire downtown today was bad enough, now what kind of crazy stuff are we going to have to go up against this time, talking pizzas?"
"Well with any luck those Z rays may have missed hitting anything that can turn into a monster." The professor said. "Poochi, do you sense anything?"
"No." the robot dog replied.
"Well that's good." Bubbles sighed.
"So I understand you guys had some help with the fire today." The professor said.
"Yeah, Astro Boy arrived on the scene about the same time we did." Buttercup said. "You know, he's in my P.E. class, I kicked his butt in soccer and basketball and I didn't know he was a robot until I saw him jump of the roof of the school ahead of us and fly away."
"I was meaning to tell you about him." Ken said, "but I never got the chance. He and his kid sister are in the same school as you this year."
"We already met Uran," the girls replied together.
"They also have an older brother named Kobaruto who's out of town in college." The professor added, "So you probably won't be meeting him."
"You know," Poochi said, "I have a bad feeling that things are going to get worse around here, and it will be a good thing that we have Astro nearby in New Townsville."
Pabst Hops walked around the old gas tank following the engineer he'd hired to inspect the old structure. He'd meet the structural engineer in a bar just a few days after he'd found the old structure on the edge of the New Townsville district for sale. Pabst new little about engineering and was all too happy to hire the man in exchange for a piece of his profits after expansion of his business. Both men had agreed to the partnership over a few glasses of happoshu.
Lamp stopped periodically to take a closer look at sections of the tank, and kept notes on a form attached to a clipboard. "So how does it look?" Hops asked.
The engineer reached up to place his pencil behind his ear and turned to face his employer. "The tank's in better shape than one would expect for something its age," he said, "probably because the natural gas that it once held acted as a rust retardant."
"So will it be safe to modify it for my needs?" Hops asked. I need to increase production, my micro brewery can't keep up with demand, and I'm loosing customers! I need to make use of this tank for the storage and aging of my happoshu."
"No problem!" Lamp lied though his teeth, "We merely need to line the inside of the thing to hold your product, and install a bit of bracing here and there."
"Phew!" Hops said "Things are looking up! I'm glad I meet you."
"Sure." Lamp smiled, I'll have my contractors at your disposal in a few days."
Hops got into his car and drove off, and Lamp jumped into the front seat of his new SUV.
"So how'd it go?" Skunk asked while looking at himself in the visor mirror. He still couldn't figure out what had happened to him and Lamp. After that energy force had hit them had laid unconscious in Lamp's van until morning. Skunk's completion and hair color had changed, his new look would fool the police and that stupid boy robot. Lamp also had been changed by the discharge, he no longer needed those thick glasses to see, and the flat spot on the back of his head was gone.
"He went for it hook line and sinker." Lamp laughed. "I told you I knew enough about structural engineering to throw the bull at him. You sure your contacts at the construction firm can do the job?"
"No problem." Skunk replied. "They'll do a good enough job for your new partner to run off enough product to make it worth our while. We'll grab ourselves enough of his excellent ale and make a killing on the black market. If that tank goes kablooey after that, who cares, we'll have made enough on the deal and poor Mr. Hops will be left holding the bag."
"Yeah, well that tank actually is in pretty sorry shape." Lamp laughed. "It probably will burst after two or three runs of happoshu, but we'll be long gone by then."
"Any sign of Lamp or Skunk?" Inspector Tawashi asked.
"None." Astro sighed. "It's like they just vanished or became invisible or something."
"I can't believe that they left town." Tawashi said. "I've got the force on alert and there is an outstanding APB out for them. They may low for a while, but mark my words, they will surface again."
"You're probably right, inspector." Astro agreed.