Pandalogue

Driving at a slow speed of 15 miles per hour, the bright orange school bus traveled down icy Hatch Street on a cold winters afternoon. The city of Corry, Pennsylvania had never really liked to clear the snow off the unpaved Hatch St. because of all the rocks and the people who lived down the street couldn't afford the sewage if they ever were to pave it. The bus was filled with many youngsters who were causing havoc on the bus, which was causing quite a problem for Francine Krane, the elderly vision impaired bus driver, because not only was it snowing out so bad that her bifocals were getting fogged up, she also had all her attention on the noisy brats, who decided to start tossing paper airplanes across the bus.

Francine looked up into the dirty bus mirror hanging above her head and yelled, “Now you kids better calm down before I pull this bus over!”

The kids didn't respond as a kindergarten started to cry and Francine, at the wrong moment turned her head around as the front bus tires began to slide as they came into contact with black ice. Francine didn't have enough time to regain the control over the bus, as the bus started to go sideways down the road, which had all the children screaming at the top of their lungs. Not all hope was lost as a thud was heard on the top of the bus. Francine didn't know what to do as she started to get very white in the face and her hands dropped from the bus wheel, while her head hit the middle of the wheel hard causing the horn to flare. The bus was now in position to almost be thrown into a ditch as the front of the bus began to swerve into a low ditch, but just as most of the children began to close there eyes and let out wild shrieks, a black and white figure emerged from the snow covered tree tops and began to try to stop the bus, as it was knocking over mail boxes since it was taking up the whole road. The hero's feet began to slip and he knew he was losing his footing. The bus began to come to a slow stop, but just as all of this was happening a Jeep Durango was coming down the road right towards the bus and the snow started coming down in heavier amounts, which was blocking out the lights of the Durango. At the last second the Durango stepped onto the brakes, but it wasn't quick enough as the Durango ran straight into the mysterious man pinning his legs up against the bus.

A few kids began to evacuate the bus and the one kid seeing his hero stuck shouted, “Mr. Pandaman!”, and ran over to him trying to move the crushed vehicle.

The driver of the Durango got out swiftly, appearing to have no signs of injury except for the usual trauma from the release of the airbag, got out and tried to help some of the kids move his vehicle. A 6^th grader dialed 911 as the Durango was finally removed from holding up Panda~man.

The man who owned the Durango was telling the kids, “All you kids know that I wouldn't do anything to hurt this guy on purpose. I know how many lives he has saved and all that jazz. Man, I even remember the first few times people seen him.”

Chapter 1

Big Business

It wasn't that quiet in the business meeting of Frank “Gargoyle” Banks, New York Mafia boss and owner of 60% of Wal-Mart stock. Being a man of large stature from shoulder to shoulder Gargoyle Banks struck fear into the hearts of other small town business owners. He owned the mafia gang called, “The Gargoyles”.

“So how do you plan on making a profit if your not willing to take a sacrifice?” explained Mr. Banks.

His associate, Leonard Magnetio, answered him, “You don't know what your asking me to do? Your asking me to give you eighty percent of what I make for protection from your own guys. I don't think so. You've already made my family starve enough and I hate having to look over my back every second of the day.”

“This is your final decision?” questioned Banks.

“Yes it is,” answered Magnetio.

With that being said a shot rang out throughout the business hall and Mr. Magnetio's body dropped to the floor.

“Dispose of him and tell his family that he's on a prolong vacation,” commanded Banks.

“Anyone else have any other business to discuss?” asked Banks while Magnetio's body was dragged out of the hall.

Everyone else attending the meeting didn't say a word to him. With that being said Mr. Banks was wheeled out of the room by one of his body guards. Gargoyle had been stuck in a wheelchair for almost 10 years, ever since his last run in with the law, but he easily payed off the courts with his wealth.

Down in Pennsylvania, in a town called Corry, was a boy about the age of 16 who was sitting in his house, pondering about life while watching CNN.

“This is a news update: New York crime has been rising in the past weeks. Just this morning another body was found in Lake Erie. This will be the tenth body this month. Pennsylvania crime has been skyrocketing in the past months. Especially by the city of Erie crime has yet cease. Little towns inland are now being targeted for crime. Teenagers and adults are being recruited by an unknown mafia organization. Not only the mafia has taken over, but none the less a vigilante crime spree has come into play. Just last week two thief's stole some technological equipment from Best Buy in Erie, Pennsylvania. When police arrived the equipment was missing, but the robbers were tied up at the scene. These things have occurred all over Erie and other parts of North East Pennsylvania. This has been Rob Barker reporting for CNN.”

RJ, half asleep from watching the report, got up from the couch as his mom was yelling from him to come upstairs. He had nothing to do at all, it was summer time and it was the last day that he would have free will until he had to give that up to go to school tomorrow. He hadn't done anything all summer and he was in need of some sort of action, maybe a purpose, but he had yet to find it. He ran up the steps and up the attic where his mom was cleaning.

“I want you to sort out these old chests and stuff. I'll get Paul to help you out,” said his mother.

It was hard for RJ to maneuver around in the attic because he was about 6”0 and it was very muggy, so his glasses kept falling off his face from the sweat.

RJ went over to where one of the chests were laying and while he was dusting off cobwebs from the chest, Paul appeared silently from no where and yelled, ”Boo!” which scared the stuffing out of RJ.

“What do you think your doing weenie?,” questioned RJ, who was pretty mad at Paul.

“Nothing dude,” said Paul, who thought antics like that were funny since he was 9 years old.

“Stop screwing around man and help me open this stupid chest,” said RJ.

The both of them combined pried the chest open and were shocked at the sights they seen. Laying in the chest were two hats, one was a panda head and the other was supposedly a rabbit, but it was worn out looking. As soon as RJ's eyes seen the bear shaped hat he knew there was something different about this sort of hat.

“What are you two doing up there?” yelled their mom.

“Were bringing that chest down,” replied RJ as he stuck the panda hat down his pants and when he did this Paul did the same with the rabbit one.

“Well hurry up because we have to go school shopping tomorrow,” bellowed RJ's mother.

“Oh yeah, because tomorrow is the stupid first day of school,” RJ moaned as he almost dropped the chest as he walked backwards down the stairs.

“When we get a chance we got to try on these hats,” Paul said.

RJ nodded as they took the chest down the steps.

Meanwhile, on Airport Road, one of RJ's acquaintances/friends, Jonathan Metzinger, was in his apartment that he had recently obtained since he had received a job. Him and RJ had been friends for almost 10 years ever since Jon had moved from New York to Corry. He had light blonde hair and was about 5”8. He wasn't very athletic, but he had good work ethic. He sat in his apartment with boxes full of books and trinkets that he was too lazy to unpack, playing Madden 01 on his PS2. He was planning for college and this apartment was just temporary, well that is what he told his parents, but instead ever since he had that accident he had been different. Even while playing video games he found himself to be more violent in his game play. He saw himself looking at issues of the government at a different light. He didn't know in detail what had happened to his head, but he knew that it had transformed him for the worse. He had seen the news reports about the incidents in Erie and he hadn't noticed that in his apartment was a brand new Microsoft computer. Very strange indeed, even for him. It all seemed too familiar to him, but he had no idea where he had been in the past few hours. Except for a weird Zorro mask laying on the counter.

Chapter 2

Things Happen To Good People

Tuesday had come. RJ woke up and instantly knew his dark brown/black hair was a messy doo. That's usually how his hair would come out in the morning. He got up from his couch and got dressed rather quickly. No one was around to bother him since his so called bedroom was in the basement. He had hid the panda hat in a drawer next to his bed and since it was early in the morning he decided to give it a try, even though he was struggling to stay awake he thought he probably wouldn't have another chance to ever try it on alone. He quickly shoved the hat onto his head and instantly he felt quite a tingling sensation flow throughout his whole body. He couldn't move his body at all. It was like a feeling he had never experienced before in his life. After a few minutes he was able to regain control of his body and the tingling had ceased. This was no ordinary head ornament he had put on, it was something ancient and worn. He flung the hat into his drawer and decided not to put it on again for a while until he could figure out what had happened.

Upstairs was much the opposite as Paul had woke up and had the hat piece on for a while.

He felt wide awake and energized more than he had ever felt before. He went to run down the stairs and before his eyes could blink he was standing in RJ's room.

“How in the world did you get down here without me hearing you?” RJ questioned.

“Man, I have no idea how. It's this weird bunny hat it gave me some speed power.”

“Let's not worry about this stuff now because it's the first day of school,” RJ suggested as Paul removed the hat and went back upstairs.

The school bus finally pulled up to the Wotus residence as RJ, Paul and there sister, Julie, who was brunette, a little shorter than RJ and had an attitude, were standing outside waiting for the first day of school to begin. The bus took about 10 minutes to get to the Corry Area High School and when it did RJ was the first one off the bus. He was pretty excited about school, since he was only in the 10^th grade. It was Julies 7^th grade year at the high school. After getting into the pale looking high school RJ frantically searched for his friends round table. When he finally found the table the only person that was sitting there was Isaiah Grawn, a blond short kid who was one of RJs best friends.

“Whatsup I?” RJ shouted as he sat down.

“Nothing much, Wodie. Did you hear about what happened last night?” Isaiah asked.

“Nope, you know a tornado could come through my house and I'd still be sleeping,” RJ said jokingly.

“Wal-mart got robbed last night is what they said on the news and something about they only took a few mp3 players and a television.”

“That's weird man. Who would be stupid enough to not take money?” RJ wondered to Isaiah.

“Those mexicans is who,” Isaiah laughed.

RJ smiled, but his mind was more on the thieves who stole from Wal-mart and what he was going to do about it.

* * *

Down a few blocks at McGinnest Construction a man named Gerald Tyront, tall, african american, medium build man, with a full gray beard was working hard on his cement project. His job was to mix the cement with a new chemical called Mentex, which was supposed to be some super mix that made cement better. He wasn't too sure what the new substance was, but it came from out in New York. After he got done with the mixer his boss, Denny Linden, came out of the building and asked him to work overtime. Gerald agreed to the overtime. Gerald was a kind hearted man who would help anybody out even if it meant going out of his way to do it.

Just after Denny left, Gerald picked up his cell phone and he had got his wifes answering machine so he said, “Honey, I just want to let you know I'm going to have to work late tonight so put the beans in the fridge til later. Love you, bye.”

It was there 30^th wedding anniversary today, but Gerald wasn't able to get any time off this week because he had used up all his vacation and the company was short handed anyways. He didn't really mind working the overtime, he knew Marlene, his wife wouldn't mind either. He went back to work mixing hard, never letting up on the job. At one point the cement mixer he was using jammed and he had to stick his hands, without gloves into the cement to unclog the problem. After he had gotten his hands all covered in wax he was about go to the washroom when Denny came out with a sandwich telling him to take a break because he had been working so hard. Without thinking about it Gerald ate the sandwich and the particles from the cement with it. Little did he know that just by not washing his hands he had altered his life forever. After he had woofed down the sandwich, he went steadily back to work without a worry in the world.

* * *

“Keep it on the down low ok?” replied Gargoyle Banks, to some of his fellow co workers.

All of his men nodded as they put an mp3 and a television into a suburban apartment.

“We can't believe you would be so generous Mr. Banks,” sweetly said Mrs. Ginger, a lady who was low on money and wanted to get her grandson a few presents, so she decided to turn to the loaning institution of Banks.

“Don't worry ma'am, just pay us when you can like within the next week or so,” added Banks.

Mrs. Ginger looked at Banks with a rather wondering eye, because at that moment she thought to herself, “What have I gotten myself into?”

Banks just smiled as him and his men piled into what seemed to be an overlarge SUV. In the inside of the SUV there chairs instead of regular seats, since Banks had the money he had had it customized to his liking. His chair was a very fancy leather chair stationed in the back of the van. On his left though there was a man who had been in the van the whole time who Banks was very well pleased with.

“Good call kid, it's good once in a while to zap some money from the poor,” laughed Gargoyle Banks as he lite up a cigarette.

“Yeah I may be the new kid on the block, but I do know how to manipulate people,” beckoned the man with the zorro mask.

“What did you say your name was again?” questioned Banks.

“They call me down where I live crazy, some call me ignorant, others call me a thief, my mother calls me sonny, but you can call me the Demented Vigilante.”

Chapter 3

A Dollar A Dummy

The whole school day was filled with RJ not paying one bit of attention to anything the teachers were saying and since it was the first day they never had anything good to say anyways. He still felt tingly and really different from when he had tried the hat on this morning. His mind always drifted about the mysterious hat he had found and why was it in his attic? He had no idea. Maybe his mom or dad had put it there. Was it a coincidence that the hat had been found by him when his town and state was suffering from so much crime? Why was there a hat for Paul? The strange thing was that both of the garments were able to fit each of them perfectly. Even in science class which he liked a whole lot, he barely payed attention to that class. There was no scientific explanation for today. He really didn't know why the crime rate was so high in the last month or two.

“What's your name?”

“Huh?”

“I asked you who are you?” asked the science teacher.

“RJ Wotus.”

“Oh, ok, but next time try to pay attention, I mean it's the first day of school have some respect,” advised the teacher, whose name RJ had finally seen on the chalk board and it said Mr. Mentos.

RJ nodded and drifted off again, but since it was his last class he didn't think it mattered. Finally, the bell had rung and RJ shoved past people to get to his locker and get on the bus. After ten minute of bus ride RJ was pumped to get home and decided to go figure out the panda hat. He ran down the stairs almost killing himself, but he didn't care as he ran into his room and snatched the hat from where he left it and put it on his head. Once again some weird energy flowed throughout his whole body and this time he heard a high pitched sound that rang through his ears and made him fall to the ground trying to get rid of it. After about 10 minutes he sound went away and he stood up. He heard the sound of tires and brakes as he looked outside and saw his parents van pull in.

“That is weird,” thought RJ because he had never been able before to hear the van at all.

Paul ran down the steps which caused RJ to rip off his hat and throw it into his room.

“Sup brother,” shouted Paul, who sounded like he was high on caffeine.

“Dude you know I've been checking out that hat we found and I think there magic,” exclaimed RJ.

“Pretty cool if they are though.”

RJ agreed and decided to go get his hat and test what it could really do outside. Paul who seemed a little faster today was already half way up back down the steps with his hat before RJ could even get back from retrieving the panda.

“Let's take this outside ok,” demanded RJ.

They ran out the door and through their humongous backyard all the way to the woods where no one would see them put on these hats because they decided it needed to stay a secret. Paul had his hat on in a flash and before RJ could blink Paul was gone.

“Paul where are you?” hollered RJ.

Glancing around the tall trees and the broken pines RJ seemed to spot Paul, by squinting a few hundred feet away in an open field.

“Paul, how did you do that?” yelled RJ.

Paul in the blink of an eye was over by RJ's side and that left him baffled.

“Dude, how were you able to run that fast? That's crazy!” RJ squealed.

Paul having no idea how he had had accomplished the amazing speed, decided to take off running again and in about thirty seconds later Paul returned with a can of Dr. Pepper.

“Wow dude stop showing off now,” jealously said RJ, who really wanted to know what he could do as he just started flapping his arms up and down thinking he could fly. After about five minutes of nothing and a lot of panting RJ decided that his powers must be hidden or maybe that his hat wasn't special.

“This hat isn't like yours Paul, it's lame and the inside of it is purple. Plus, it looks like a little kids hat,” RJ sourly said.

Paul, who was loving his new found acceleration, had been running circles around RJ the whole time. All his life RJ had wanted to be able to have powers like Paul and so far his dreams weren't coming through. RJ was getting drenched in sweat because it was a hot seventy degree September day. He was a very clean cut guy and he didn't have bug guns to flex like Hulk Hogan. Sweat was something RJ could get easily. RJ took off his hat and right before he went to throw it into the woods he heard from what seemed to be police sirens from a distance.

“Dispatcher this is Officer McHalend. We got a call to a robbery in progress at Dollar General. I'm going to need backup.”

With that being said RJ put the hat over his head and flaps to cover over his face and decided to go help out the police. Paul and RJ raced to the store, with Paul using his speed, that made RJ have to run on foot without the hat on. Corry was a busy little town in which when things did happen like a robbery it would all of a sudden become a big deal. RJ's house was a few miles from Dollar General, but with any luck he could get there before the fun began.

Arriving at the bank first was Paul, who seemed rather drained from running, but was still able to do it. Paul looked around DG's parking lot and noticed five police cars gathered around it.

Officer McHalend using his microphone on the robbers, “Come out with your hands up. There is no way your coming out of there with money.”

RJ finally arrived out of breath at Dollar General. He looked at the situation and it had nearly been ten minutes before the police decided to just go in. Officer McHalend led the way as he shot DG's front glass doors. Officer Jim McHalend, was the best officer on the force, standing at 6”4, 178 lbs, flaming red spiky hair. Everyone at the police department thought of him as an unusual individual. He didn't have a wife or kids, but he was quite the ladies man though. RJ thought that was a poor strategy and that Officer McHalend had rushed a decision. For some odd reason the whole store was filled with an eerie haze that you could barely see the lights. The police really didn't know how many people were inside robbing the Dollar General so they tried to approach the situation with caution, but Officer McHalend basically ruined that by shooting down the doors.

“Come out with your hands up!” repeated McHalend.

No one said a word at all. McHalend had his gun raised and swiftly pointed it around as five S.W.A.T. Team members followed behind him. Out of the back of the store there arose a loud noise that sounded like a vase had broke. McHalend motioned his heavily armed officers to secure the building. McHalend crouched down and crab walked his way down the aisles hoping he could get a shot in at the burglars. Out of no where there came a light tap to his shoulder he jumped to his feet and pointed the gun, but before he could even pull the trigger the Demented Vigilante power slapped him in the face. McHalend hit the floor as all the officers surrounded the scoundrel with guns aimed at his head. He still wore the the Zorro Mask and now had a hat that resembled Zorro on. He lifted his hands as the officers watched him very carefully with there guns ready to go. Out of DV's sleeves rolled out too silver balls that made the men pass out within seconds with a suspicious gas. He adjusted his mask and headed for the busted doors when standing at the entrance was an exhausted guy in a panda hat along with a youngster in a bunny hat.

“Halt there masked menace!” demanded RJ from afar.

“I don't think so Panda~Man and Bunny Boy!” bellowed the Demented Vigilante.

RJ thought to himself for a seconds and realized that he really enjoyed being called the name Panda~Man. He even wanted to put a weird squiggly between the word panda and man. Paul also liked being called Bunny Boy, but he was too young to even really care what he was called as long as he had the powers. Demented glanced around him trying to find another exit, RJ nodded to Paul and then began to run towards Demented, who started to pull out a sharp object, but before he could a blurry figure snatched it away from his grasp. Before he could even realize what had happen Panda~Man upper cut Demented in the chin with his right hand which sent him flying backwards into one of the checkout counters. RJ ran over to wrap up the criminal, but again a mysterious gas shrouded them and RJ heard someone scurry off, but couldn't quite see where he went. Paul was over on the other side of the store trying to wake up the officers, but RJ yelled at him and they both ran away from the crime scene before anyone could realize they saved the day. Officer McHalend finally woke up, squinted his eyes and saw that something had definitely gone down while he was out. The store looked completely trashed and it looked like it would take a few months to get the store back up to par. He finally was able to stand after a few minutes of just trying to get the feeling back in his face, a few feet away laid a what looked like a pocket knife with the initials DV carved into the side of it. A few hours passed where they were able to gather the videotape of the store. McHalend by now felt a lot better and was about ready to go back to the station when one of the officers called, “Hey McHalend this looks like this is right up your alley.”

“What is it?” questioned McHalend as he rushed over to the video.

On the police widescreen McHalend watched as two figures had beaten up the Vigilante and left the scene.

“Looks like we have a few civilian heroes on our hand.” claimed McHalend.

'That's not the way I see it Jimbo,” rose a voice from the front of the store.

“Why not Sargent?”

A big white haired man with arms the size of cannons came trotting up to Jim. He happened to be Sargent Peter William Muck. Standing at 6”6, 325 lbs, Muck struck fear into the hearts of every officer on the force except for one.

“Because I think these so called heroes are vigilantes and thrill seekers. We don't need any more of them in this town. I mean we have police officers, firefighters, doctors, and garbage men. We don't some weirdos running around pretending that they can enforce the law and bring justice to our town. That's the reason you guys are here. I want you guys to put out a bulletin for these crazy guys arrest and the burglar that robbed this place. I want to meet these men and see what kind of sick demented freaks they are.”

McHalend tried to argue his point, “I think these guys saved our lives man.”

Muck took a sip of his Starbucks coffee and laughed it off.

Jim wasn't too happy at Muck. This was a daily thing Muck never would respect Jim no matter if he would save a bus of nuns. Jim thought to himself, “Maybe these costumed masked guys can help this town out. I think we really need them.”

Chapter 4

Bamboozled

Scorching heat was coming down from the sun, as RJ was walking to Save A Lot, he was supposed to be getting groceries for his mom. The parking lot was pretty torn up with ripped out pieces of asphalt laying all around. RJ decided to walk around it, but he planted his left feet and ended up landing into a bush full of plants or so he thought.

“Ahhh I hate plants,” came the words out of RJ's mouth. While he was struggling to untangle his feet, a sharp prick went into his hand.

“Ouch!” yelled RJ as he looked down and the wound looked really didn't look like a wound.

He managed to look down and found a very long piece of bamboo. It was the piece that had inserted itself into his skin. RJ grabbed up the bamboo and puzzlingly stared at it. In a matter of the time it takes to come up with a thought the bamboo shrank down to about the size of a cane. He kept thinking and it began to shrink even more to where it got to be the size of a small pipe. This was pretty new and weird to RJ. It felt like some how that the bamboo had combined together with RJ's DNA. It was just a weird hypothesis that RJ probably wasn't true because that kind of stuff only happened in science fiction. He stuffed the boo into his pocket and went on into Save A Lot. RJ was surprised that Save A Lot wasn't being robbed the crime rate for Corry was so high that any time during the day a place could get robbed blind, like yesterday at Dollar General.

* * *

Gerald was having a rough day today. He was outside mowing his lawn and it was a blazing. Sweat drops were running off him and to make things worse his wife came out the front door yelling at him, “Gerald I thought you said you were going to pay the bills and make sure we don't have to move again!”

Gerald at this point had no words for Marlene because she was right he thought as he turned off the mower. They were on a strict budget and he had blown all the money on beer and dining. Before he could even catch a breathe to say something to her she blared, “I can't take this anymore Gerald. I'm moving in with my mother and taking Gwendolyn with me. My mother only lives a few miles away and she's still going to be able to go to the same school so that's a bonus.”

Now Gwendolyn was Gerald and Marlene's 16 year old daughter. Gerald loved Gwendolyn so much that he was more mad at the fact that Marlene was taking her away from him. She was already packed to go as a taxi pulled up and they hopped in. All Gerald could do is watch as the two loves of his life drove away to another part of town. Gerald felt suddenly saddened and at the same time really hot. He looked down at his skin and it looked light gray. This was new to him. He looked at his hands and he felt like he was melting. He suddenly realized that he had turned into his job. He was turning into cement for some odd reason. Not only had he lost his wife, his daughter, now he was becoming a freak of nature. In the house he heard the phone ringing so he ran inside hoping it was good news. It wasn't.

“Hey Gerald. It's Denny. I'm sorry I have to do this man, but were laying you off,” spoke Denny.

“Why are you doing this?” sobbed Gerald.

“I have nothing against you at all. Your our best employee, its just we have no room for you on job force. Sorry Ger..” explained Denny, but he had already been cut off the line .

Gerald was enraged so much that he slammed his hand on the kitchen table, splitting it in two. He blankly stared at his hands as they were a darker shade of gray now. Finally the light clicked on and he realized that he was going to be able to take out revenge on those who did him wrong. His face began to shift away, his clothes no longer existed. You could barely tell he had legs and arms. One thing for certain he knew was that his name was now C-Ment.

Chapter 5

How to Become An Entrepreneur

Sitting in a big comfy office chair, Gargoyle Banks smoked a very large Cuban cigar. The past few days for him had been quite good considering he had the whole state of New York and Pennsylvania basically in his grasp. The front doors of his office swung open and there stood a beaten up Demented Vigilante, with his mask all crooked and a few scars here and there.

“What happened to you?” blared Banks.

“I was doing that job that you wanted me to do in Corry and some wild characters from no where came out and manhandled me,” sniveled Demented.

“It wasn’t that foppish guy was it?”

“No, there were two of them. One had panda attire on the other was suited up like a rabbit. Bunny Boy is what I called him and he had the ability to move at a quick speed. The other one was Panda Man, he gave me the wounds.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen you get taken out by a bunch of freakazoids. You need to toughen up and go recruit some people.”

“Nah, I’ve decided I want out of you and your mafia based business. I’m going to do my own bad tactics the way I want them done. I’m tried of you bossing me around and sending me off on missions that accomplish nothing. I have a few ideas of my own that I want to do. Robbing old people is not one of them.”

Gargoyle became outraged at DV for his statements. With the click off a red button under his desk a bunch of bouncers came running with guns loaded. Vigilante took one look at them and made a mad dash for the window, which he shattered as he went soaring through it. He landed on ground and rolled up behind a tree. Bullets were being propelled at him from the second story office window of Banks. Vigilante took out a smoke pellet and tossed it up into the office. While Gargoyle’s men were lost in the smog, DV took off running until he got to his Ford Pinto, in which he started it up and zoomed off back to Corry. Back at the Banks estate Gargoyle was literally about ready to kill someone.

“I want every one of my men to find him and bring him back to me alive. I have a few torture techniques I want to show that boy,” snarled Gargoyle.

Every man in the office began to scramble out of the room as Gargoyle threw a lamp at the wall.

* * *

Back in the town of Union City, Pennsylvania, a Methodist church was in the process of being robbed blind. Two medium height Caucasian men were trying to open the church’s safe.

“You need to turn it the other way Maguire,” commanded the other man.

“Seriously Tobey I don’t know why were even robbing a church. I mean we could be out stealing precious jewels and loads of cash, instead we settle for taking the dough from this place.”

The two men had a lack of brain power. They never had been able to rob a place successfully, they’d either get caught or barely manage to escape. Behind where Tobey and Maguire were standing a large shadow enveloped them. He tapped Tobey on the shoulder.

“Sorry men, but I think you need to just stop what your doing and turn around,” boomed the loud voice.

They both swerved around and a man dressed all in white with white sunglasses and a very large chin hovered over them.

“Do you boys know who I am?” quizzed the very tall and very husky man.

Both men turned to each other and shook there heads no.

“Let me introduce myself,” politely said the man as he picked both guys up by the shirts and threw them across the cathedral.

“From this day forward you shall know the man who stopped your fiendish plans by the name, The Fop,” came the last sane words the men would remember.

Chapter 6

Construction Zone

It was another school day for RJ. He was pretty wiped out and exhausted. He had been up most of the night practicing swirling his Bamboo stick. He was pretty slick with it. He hadn't learned to master it, but he was getting pretty well. The bell rang as RJ had to get to his 1^st class period, which was Student Assistant for the office. All he had to do was sit in the office and run errands. He really liked the class too, but today for some odd reason he was feeling a little nervous and queasy, like something was warning him about danger, but he payed no attention to it.

Outside a few blocks from the school stood a confused man whose whole life now was being a statue.

Gerald moaned to himself, “It's up to me to set things right. I need to go to the high school and rescue Gwendolyn. She probably won't even recognize who I am.”

He transformed into a puddle and creped his way down the sidewalk unnoticeable. Finally arriving at the school he slithered his way under the doors setting off a violent shrieking alarm.

“What was that?” yelled the secretary.

RJ being the closet one to the door peeked out and seen a substance slide along the floor.

“What is that?” RJ was asking himself.

RJ decided this would be the perfect time to investigate so he ran off to the restroom.

From off the ground the creature arose into his human form. From the top of his lungs he bellowed, “GWENDOLYN!!!!”

“Get the police down here now!” screamed the principal from his office.

While all the action was taking place RJ was putting on his game face. He had managed to make his Bamboo stick fit snug right under his belt. He pulled over his hat and had a pair of dark sunglasses with him because he couldn't afford anyone finding out his identity so he had to hid his thick glasses under dark ones. RJ dashed out of the bathroom and squinted his eyes to see down the hall that the mysterious unwanted visitor had gotten bigger. RJ made a hasty decision by unsnapping his stick and javelin threw it at the behemoth. Too bad for him that all the bamboo did was stick into the monsters side.

“How am I supposed to defeat this thing?” wondered RJ aloud.

He decided he would just physically fight it. Panda~Man was jabbing left here and right there at the cemented creature. Cement was flying everywhere as he let out a full throttle attack out.

Arriving at the scene in his police car was Office McHalend. He darted in with his gun raised in the air and cried, “Stick your hands up!”

“Um officer are you an idiot?” were the only words that Pandy was able to get out of his mouth as the C-Ment unloaded over top of him.

He felt like he was inside a giant tub of jello with fruit, but unfortunately for him he was the fruit. As he struggled to escape he felt like he was in an earthquake. McHalend was unloading shots on C-Ment which were having no effect, but were really close to almost nailing Panda~Man. A crowd was watching from afar as the ongoing struggle with Pandy and C was taking place.

“I'm going to need backup on the double!” commanded McHalend on his radio.

RJ felt like he couldn't breathe anymore. He needed to act drastically. Finally with one last effort he was able to literally rip C-Ment into two separate pieces. Toppling onto the ground he slowly moved backwards. He was covered with cement all over, not only his body was covered, but both pairs of his glasses were smeared with gray goo. McHalend bent down and began to touch the remains of C-Ment, but as he began to inspect it, it began to shake. Both pieces began to to move, someone let out a scream from down the hall. Panda~Man was about ready to throw up as the pieces began to merge with each other. In a few seconds C-Ment was brand new like he had never been touched in the first place.

“Oh my goodness!” sighed the secretary as she fainted.

A few students rushed to her side to make sure she was okay. The battle was still ongoing as more policemen arrived and warned everyone to stand back. People were acting like chickens with there heads cut off as they began running around yelling. Police officers tried to calm them down, but it wasn't working well. Pandy needed a quick plan to stop the creature so he looked over to his left and saw a fire extinguisher. He quickly grabbed it and aimed it at C-Ment, who was suddenly covered in foam. Panda~man quickly punched C-Ment with a few jabs and he shattered on the ground. People began to cheer as Panda~Man was out of breath and just sat on the schools squeaky cement covered floor with his fist raised in the air in triumph. The police and the high school maintenance workers began to clean up, but no one noticed a portion of the cement had gotten away.

Chapter 7

Villains Never Sleep

Sitting in his comfy chair, Jon Metzinger pondered his next move as he had just left Gargoyle’s gang to make his own. He really never thought since the day that he had been injured that things would've changed so drastically. If he wouldn't of pulled that girl out from underneath those tumbling pipes he'd probably be a different man. He remembered it like it was yesterday. The pipes down at the construction area were getting ready to fall on a little girl in a yellow dress and Jon just happened to be walking that way home and he quickly shoved the girl out of the way as he was toppled by steel pipes. After he had recovered he had been a different person. His friends changed. One of his best friends, RJ Wotus was no longer at the top of his list. He moved out of his parents house after he had yelled and screamed at them. His whole outlook on life changed, he was no longer the nice guy who helped people. When the pipes had fallen they triggered something in his brain to bring out his inner anger. There was like a battle raging on inside of him and the good part was losing. Every day he felt like he was going into seizures with his body shaking violently back and forth. He even tried to recreate the accident and more pipes fell on his head, but that did nothing. He was now embracing his new fugitive identity and was slowly giving up the fight on the inside. He had big plans soon for the town all in due time he kept thinking. His apartment was pretty much a mess with pizza boxes scattered all around and cans of Pepsi still half full were on the ground everywhere. The apartment stank of old socks and dog fur.

* * *

Back in the big city of New York, Gargoyle Banks and his crew were desperately searching the Internet and using any other source to track down the Demented Vigilante.

“I don't care what you have to do, but make sure you bring that crazy lunatic back here!” bellowed Gargoyle.

“Don't worry G were gonna nab the guy.

Gargoyle knew someday he'd get the guy and that'd be his end.

Epilogue

Panda~Man's body laid spread out on the cold dirt road. He slowly began to move as a crowd of little kids surrounded him.

“Is he gonna be alright?” asked one of the worried little ones.

Panda~Man could barely feel his legs as throbbing pains rushed through them. He could hear sirens blazing a few blocks down from where he was. He knew he had to get out of the area fast before he ended up going to a hospital. Without even standing up he unlatched his bamboo stick from his belt and with all the strength he could muster, he slammed the bottom of the stick into the ground which sent him soaring into the air. Everyone down below watched in amazement as he went soaring off into a group of pine trees quite a ways away. All the little children were still staring in amazement into the sky. Meanwhile, the ambulances arrived and did a check up to everyone that was involved in the crash. Wincing in pain Panda~Man was sitting on a log that he had been able to drag himself up onto. His legs felt a little better, but the pain was really sharp in his left ankle. The Durango that had him must've got his ankle more than his legs. He waited for about an hour for the commotion to go down and as all the ambulances and the buses were towed he took of his hat and slowly limped home thinking, ”A heroes job is never done.”