Time Out for Dr. Dred I

Violet McGowan paced back and forth in Alex's office.

'She threw off your magic?' Alex asked. 'Is that possible?'

'I didn't think it should be, but she did it.' Vi shook her head. 'Has anyone outright rejected membership before?'

'Yes, but usually because they're too scared of the monsters,' Alex said. 'Never because they think there's something wrong with what we do. Oh, well, we'll worry about it later.'

Vi looked at him. 'Later?'

'Right now, I'm more worried about this Drack Pack,' Alex said. 'The hype around them is not dying down. Every day more and more stories about them are coming out. Next thing you know, people are going to totally forget why monsters are threats to them. What's next? Romanticising them?'

:[

'So, why do all our spells come out in that weird language?' Jess asked.

'It's a dialect of Ancient Greece,' her grandmother said. 'That's where our bloodline comes from. You've heard of Circe?'

'The Sorceress in The Odyssey that turned Odysseus's men into pigs,' Jess said.

'She was real. But Circe was not her name. It was her title. It was my mother's title. It was my title. And now,' her grandmother smiled at her, 'it is your title.'

'Whoa.' Jess's mind raced. 'Wait. Wasn't that Circe a demigoddess?'

Her grandmother chuckled in approval. 'You always were a good little bookworm. Yes. Circe was the half-mortal daughter of Hecate, a Goddess who held dominion over, among other things, magic and witchcraft. That is where our duty comes from.'

'Duty?'

'Circe holds dominion over all witches, warlocks, and other magic users,' her grandmother explained. 'Those of supernatural persuasion know and will respect you. They smell you. They know that you decide the distribution of magic. It is the humans who hear of you and will dismiss your name as nothing more than a scary story told to make fledgling spellcasters behave.'

Jess nodded.

'Now,' her grandmother said. 'I'm going to teach you how to render yourself invisible. And then I've got a special job for you.'

'What job?'

'You need to go to Washington DC, where the mint is made.'

Jess blinked. 'Why?'

'You'll see.'

:[

A luxury cruiser sailed across the sea. The water was calm. The sun was shining. The passengers moved about their various holidays, enjoying every moment of it. This cruise was for only the most elite members of society. It wasn't the sort of place, however, where you'd expect a crime like this to be committed.

A green light suddenly hit the ship.

Everything on the cruise ship suddenly froze in place. A woman walking her dog stopped mid-step. A man diving into the pool stopped in mid-air. There was even a seagull that had been caught in the beam. It, too, stopped in mid-air. Nobody moved. Nobody even twitched. It was almost as if…

'It works, Dr. Dred!' Toad declared. 'Your Time-Stopper really does stop time!'

'Of course it works, Toad!' Dr. Dred glared at him. 'Did you doubt my evil genius?'

Toad spun around, afraid. 'O-oh, no, Dr. Dred! I didn't mean that!'

'No?' Dred demanded.

Toad pulled his head into his collar. 'Yes! N-n-no, I mean…' He quickly pulled out the fly swatter and wacked himself in the head. 'Bad Toad! Bad, bad Toad!'

Dr. Dred snatched the fly swatter out of his hand. 'Enough grovelling, runt-head! There is dirty work to be done.'

'Oh!' Toad pulled his head out again. 'That's the best kind.'

Dred walked over to the Time-Stopper and looked at the timer on it. 'The Time-Stopper Beam is only effective for five minutes.' He turned. 'So, Mummy-Man, Fly. You may proceed with Plan A.'

Mummy-Man and Fly turned and walked to the hatch. Opening it up, Mummy-Man attached a piece of bandage to the Dredgible and abseiled down to the cruise ship. Fly followed and flew down. The two of them immediately split off with their sacks and began relieving the passengers of all of their valuables.

They took the money and wallets.

They took the jewels the female passengers were wearing.

They even took the ruby-encrusted collar the dog on the ship was wearing.

Dr. Dred spoke through the megaphone. 'Now, hear this! Get going! Speed it up, you louts! Time is running out!'

The two of them snatched absolutely everything of value before climbing back up into the Dredgible by Mummy-Man's bandages. The hatch closed behind them. Dr. Dred flew them all away mere seconds before the Time-Stopper beam wore off. Mummy-Man and Fly emptied their loot onto the floor.

Toad wasted no time diving in and playing with the money. 'Oh, Dr. Dred, this proves you are the rottenest, evilest, nastiest, crummiest villain of all time!'

Dr. Dred grinned. 'Flatterer. But this trivial trash is unworthy of the Time-Stopper.' He patted the machine affectionately. 'Why steal chicken feed, when you can steal the golden goose?'

:[

'So, he's been spotted?' Alex Pryce asked.

'He robbed a cruise ship. No one saw him do it, but his Dredgible was seen in the area.'

'Hm.' Pryce considered for a moment. 'Tail him.'

'Tail him?'

'Wherever Dred goes, the Drak Pack soon appears.'

:[

Vince, Howard, and Frank walked through the local airport, each with a set of skis.

'Yeow!' Howard exclaimed. 'I can hardly wait to get to the ski slopes!'

'Yeah!' Vince agreed. 'Just think: two weeks of nothing but fresh air, snow, and…' He looked back and smiled in amusement as Frank ran into the doorway.

'Forget the trip, fellas,' Frank said. 'These doggone skis won't fit through the door.'

Well, of course not. He was holding them longways. 'Just turn them the other way, Frank,' Vince told him.

'Hey, good idea, Vince. That's executive thinking.' Except Frank just flipped them over and tried again. 'Nope. Still won't fit. Maybe we ought to take up ice skating instead.'

Anyone else would laugh. Judging from the look on Howard's face, he was just as tempted as Vince was.

'Try sideways,' Vince said.

'Huh?' Frank looked down. 'Oh, yeah.' As he finally flipped them the right way around and stepped through, he looked to the side. 'Wow!' Frank walked over to the window to look. 'Where are they going with all that money?'

Vince and Howard walked over to see what he'd spotted.

Wasn't something you saw every day.

'Well, that's a government plane,' Vince said, 'and there's an armoured car from the mint, so…'

'So, where are they going with all that money?' Frank asked.

Howard shrugged. 'Eh, they're loading it on that plane, Frankie.'

But Frankie promptly lost interest. 'Speaking of money, anyone got a quarter? I'm thirsty.'

Howard pulled one out and handed it to him. 'There must be a billion dollars on that plane.'

'That's why there's so many guards,' Vince said. 'They're all there to stop anyone from coming in and just walking off with it.'

Vince blinked.

And then…

'What the…?'

The money was gone. The guards immediately started running around, yelling at each other and an alarm was promptly set off. Vince scanned the area, looking for what could have disappeared the money. That was how he spotted it, up in the sky. A very familiar shape was leaving the area: a very particular blimp.

'Dr. Dred,' Vince growled.

:[

As would be expected when such a large sum of money had been stolen, the airport went into lockdown. Vince made a quick call to Big D to tell him what he'd seen. It still took them literal hours to get out and head home. By the time they got there, Big D and one other vampire were already working in the main house.

'About time you boys got back,' Big D grumped.

'The airport went into lockdown,' Howard said.

'Well, naturally,' the other vampire said.

'Ah,' Big D said. 'Do you boys remember Varney?'

Vince looked at the vampire as he waved while he continued working. He did…'Just barely.'

'Not surprising,' Varney remarked. 'You were quite young, and you had other concerns at the time.'

'Do you have any idea how he did it?' Vince asked.

'Nothing,' Varney said. 'Even a vampire couldn't move that fast. He doesn't have any spellcasters, so he didn't teleport it. That should have been impossible. It's almost like he…' he froze, '…stopped time. Oh, God. He stopped time.'

Big D huffed. 'That does seem to be the only way he could have done all that without three supernatural creatures noticing him.'

'So, he's built a machine that stops time?' Frank asked. 'Oh, that's scary!'

'Yes, it is,' Vince said. 'So we have to take it away from him.'

'Sure this isn't just because he ruined your vacation plans?' Varney asked with some amusement.

Vince cracked a smile. 'But where would he go next?'

'Maybe a bank?' Howard suggested.

'No.' Vince shook his head. 'There must be hundreds of banks.'

Frank pulled something out of his pocket. 'Hey, y'all, how about a mint?' He started sucking on the candy.

Vince turned. 'A mint? Of course! It was right on the tip of my tongue!'

'Mine too!' Frank said. 'Peppermint.'

Vince immediately headed back for the car. 'Come on!'

The three boys strode out of the house again.

Big D and Varney looked at each other and shrugged.

'Kids today!'