Z3

Defenders of the Earth: This Is Their Story

By Marzena

Plot: Season 2, Episode 2

Chapter 3: Peace and Quiet

It was a lovely afternoon, or it could have been. The minute Flash had taken a seat on the old bench, enjoying the clean summer air and the the cloudless sky above him, an old lady had seated herself next to him, telling him all about her recent illnesses, the death of her eldest friend and her perfect little grandkids. And just after the old lady had hurried off to prevent her perfect little grandkids from tyrannizing the other kids on the nearby playground, two toddlers had come running, trying to hit each other with their plastic shovels. The girl had finally gotten the shovel on top of her head and had started to scream her lungs out, her face all red, while the boy had been laughing at her. Then their young mother had come running, grabbing both toddlers and looking very stressed.

"I'm so sorry," she had said to Flash after scolding her two youngsters. "They've been at each others throats all morning. Really, I have no idea what got into them."

"Kids," he'd answered, trying very had not to think of April at Space Academy and Rick, who tried his hardest not to miss his sister these days.

Smiling apologetically, the woman had hurried off, taking her two screaming children with her. He hadn't really minded the kids. Better them than the talkative old lady. But seeing those two kids had reminded him of his own kids again, especially April, from whom he felt more and more estranged these days.

And then it happened. One minute, it was quiet again, and he'd been thinking of how to avoid the old lady if she would come back. Then, the ray of a lasergun that nearly missed his boot. Alarmed, he had looked up, only to see a whole gang of Ming's ice robots running right into the Central City Park, shooting around with their laserweapons.

"What the ..."

He never left the house without some kind of weapon, not since he became a Defender. Grabbing his own lasergun, he threw himself over the back of the old bench, landing in the middle of some thick and thorny green stuff. Swearing, he tried to find a good position.

All around him, chaos was breaking lose. Mothers grabbed their kids and ran off with them, teenagers ran away, little kids screamed in panic. But strangely, no one got shot. In fact, the shooting was directed at one person only, and that person wasn't Flash Gordon.

She was tall and slender, with white skin, and a very attractive body. Her long blonde hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and she ran right across a patch of grass, sending dirt flying as she kept struggling with keeping her balance. Despite her high heels, she was definitely fast, and she didn't seem scared, she was just running. In fact, she seemed rather annoyed than scared, which he found odd. Everyone else had departed screaming.

He took a good aim and eliminated the two robots in front, who both crumbled and melted on the spot. Some of the others now turned in his direction, and so did the blonde stranger.

"Look out!" he yelled at her, and she reacted promptly by letting herself fall flat on the ground, avoiding getting shot in the head with a laserray.

"Come over here," he yelled at her again. "I'll give you coverage!"

She quickly nodded, and he could see that she was getting herself ready to ran over to him into the bushes. He stood up and aimed directly at her pursuers, eliminating some more in the process, but also nearly getting shot twice himself. Cursing, he aimed again.

Then the woman came running in his direction, leaped over the old bench and landed in the same green thorny mess he'd found himself in earlier. She was panting heavily but when he crawled down behind the bench again and took a closer look at her, her blue eyes looked angry but not frightened. It irritated him.

"Any idea what they want from you?" he asked, holding up his gun again, firing another shot now and then.

"Long story," she replied, a little out of breath. "But thanks for helping me. I don't think I could have made it through the park without getting caught."

"You're not scared", he couldn't help but saying, aiming once more again.

"I've dealt with those before," she answered back, eying him. "You haven't got another lasergun, have you?"

"I wish, but I don't. Usually, when I'm out for some peace and quiet, I don't take all my weaponry with me. Which would be a problem if there were more of them, but actually, I'm a bit surprised. They're not doing much. They could have easily taken both of us out by now."

Indeed, they could have. An old wooden bench was nothing a good lasergun couldn't eliminate. But strangely, the ice robots just didn't aim at the bench.

"Yeah, they sort of want me alive," the woman replied. "And they're just machines. They are programmed to do certain actions, but they can't adapt that easily to new situations. They were told to pursue me and catch me alive. But then you came into the picture and I think they're at a loss now."

It sounded logical, and he knew it was probably also true. But it still irritated him. Usually, if he got to rescue a damsel in distress, they kept thanking him and maybe asked for his autograph. They didn't calmly start a conversation about the habits of ice robots.

"Well, you certainly did you homework," he finally said, aiming another shot. "I have to say, I am very impressed right now."

"And I feel very stupid, getting you in such a situation. You wanted peace and quiet, not a shootout with a bunch of ice robots."

She was smiling, and he couldn't help himself but smile back.

"Yeah, well. Peace and quiet never worked for me anyway. What do you say, we get rid of those nuisances together, and then you tell me how it comes that you're so well acquainted with them?"

"I say that's a deal."

He felt himself grinning as he got up again. Peace and quiet was certainly overrated.

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Article

Author

Chapters

1: Death

April and the other Gordons face a tragedy.

2: Beautiful

Mandrake is reunited with a romantic interest.

3: Peace and Quiet

Flash is thrown into an unexpected struggle.