LNH/SW10: Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will Probably Never Have an Ending #10: "Good Duck!"

[Scott Eiler]

What Has Gone Before:  (from Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will 
Probably Never Have an Ending #9, by Andrew Perron)

...

"The force that created our civilization, that raised us up from mere
animals - how appropriate to use it to stop the one who betrayed us!"
Atomic Rabbit pointed the Kube at Psychovant, and the irresistible force
pulled at his feathers.

Well, if this guy thought that just because he had a shiny toy, he could
take out the Scourge of Seventy-Six Salons, he had another think coming!
Power blasted out of his own Kube.

And suddenly the light was gone.

The cosmic power was gone.

The contestants in the battle of strength were gone.

The field was quiet and peaceful. A butterfly winged lazily through the
air, neither knowing nor caring what strange event had just taken place.

And at the point where the power had met most furiously, motes of blue-
green light streamed from a crack...

                 --^v^v^v----^v^v^v^v^v^----v^v^v^--

LNH/SW10:  Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will Probably Never 
Have an Ending #10:  "Good Duck!"

...

A rabbit and a duck landed in a rhododendron garden.  With two cubes. 
Seemingly inert, powerless cubes.  But cubes none the less.

The animals were *just* a rabbit and a duck.  They were a *large* 
black-furred rabbit and a *large* duck.  But they were not a rabbit and 
a duck with super-animal powers.  Or even hands to hold cubes with. 
They were *just* a rabbit and a duck.  Among lots of rhododendrons.  And 
two cubes.

And two monster bees, pollinating.

...

The duck was startled.  It wanted to say, "Well, %@(% Me!"  And it *did* 
say it!

The poor duck was once a cyborg *demon* duck.  Its demon powers were 
gone.  But it still had a cyborg speech implant!

The nearby rabbit heard the duck.  It looked up.  It looked back at 
itself.  Then it squeaked in rabbit laughter, and rolled over and over.

The talking duck could still talk.  This was more or less the last power 
it had.  So it yelled at the rabbit.  "Whaddaya *you* think is so 
%@&*amn funny?"

The rabbit just squeaked even louder, and pointed one paw at the duck 
and the other at the sky.

The two monster bees swooped down.  One picked up the rabbit.  The other 
picked up the duck.

The duck yelled, "Hey!  The cubes!"  But the bees didn't listen.  They 
both flew out of the garden.  Across a river.  Toward buildings.  Not 
tall buildings, but wide ones.  Buildings for storing stuff.

The duck cursed again.  "Aww, %$#@!  They're monster bees *and* they 
have their own @%&!ing *warehouse!*  And I got no Kube!"

...

This was no longer a super-duck, but it was still a very *special* duck. 
  Besides its cyborg speech engine, it had a very special tracking 
device.  Far, far away, someone was watching it.  She picked up a phone 
and said, "Escalate."

The woman's boss was in charge of all sensors being tracked.  He knew 
how special this duck was too.  He said, "Escalate."

This man's boss wasn't really his boss.  She was a consultant.  But she 
cared about all animals, even if they had sensors.  She said, "I'd 
better tell the Chancellor."

*Her* boss wasn't really her boss.  He was a Chancellor, which was hard 
work.  She just wanted to help him.  So she went to him and said, 
"Wyatt, the duck's on scope again.  But he's different now.  Better, I 
think.  And he's not where he was supposed to be.  He's back in Council 
worlds."

"Ah, but Kristi, he's supposed to be *anywhere*.  He's a tracker.  Let's 
hope we can deal with what he tracked..."  Wyatt looked at a readout. 
"What the hell??  He's turned up *there*!"

"Where?"

"TW03...  Turkworld!"

"Turk World?"

"Ah, yes, Kristi.  On that world, the Turkish Empire is taking over. 
And we're allied with them, because they're the closest thing that world 
has to a stable government.  Now let me check those sensors... Yes, 
those are *the* bees.  But that rabbit..."

Kristi knew animals, including rabbits.  She said, "That is no natural 
rabbit.  It's like some nuclear-powered thing, even though it's shut 
down now."

"Hmmm..."  Wyatt looked at computer screens.  His voice rose in 
disbelief.  "*Atomic Bunny!*  *That's* what Psychovant found beyond!  He 
brought it back, and it's depowered!  *And* his internal software seems 
to have rebooted and taken control!  *And* he's got the Monster Bees 
 From Beyond under surveillance!  I never thought I'd say this, but... 
*Good Duck!*"

Kristi looked at the sensors again.  "You know those aren't really bees, 
right?  More like a werewolf curse.  Or were-bee, in this case."

"Well, if they buzz like bees, we get to treat them like bees."

"So now what?"

"I call our allies.  The retrieval mission just became Council Priority 
One.  *Then* we figure out what Atomic Bunny has to do with what's 
breaking the omniverse."

...

TO BE CONTINUED - in SW10, New Bosnia #2:  The Land of Smoke and Pollen!

...

Author's Note:

This is what I get for trying to resolve other people's plotlines.  Now 
I get to resolve my own.  And now that I've finished plotting Powernaut 
1969, I have some spare processing cycles to do this.

Psychovant the Duck may return to the LNH plotline, but for now he has 
left the building.  Please check with me if you would like to drag him 
back.  I won't object, but I can give you some travel guides to where 
you'll have to fetch him from.

Atomic Bunny / Atomic Rabbit is an old Charlton Comics character but is 
now public domain.  Lalo Martins gets credit for tossing him into this 
plot line.  Andrew Perron gets credit for where he's ended up.  (*My* 
idea was a biology lab in Power City 1955.)  Monster Bees From Beyond 
were created by Wil Alambre, even if he didn't call them that. 
Psychovant the Duck, Kristi the Animal Girl, the Chancellor Wyatt, the 
Council of Ordered Realities, and all other characters in this fiction 
are copyright 2014, Eiler Technical Enterprises.  Chancellor Wyatt and 
the Council of Ordered Realities are still Free For Use within this cascade.

-- 
(signed) Scott Eiler  8{D> -------- http://www.eilertech.com/ ---------

When you *are* the leader... whatever goes wrong... whether you did it
or not... *you* are held responsible. - Barack Obama

I know. - Archie Andrews

- from Archie #617, March 2011, scripted by Alex Simmons.