Lucius Dalworthy and the Bird Bombing Bonanza

Young genius Lucius Dalworthy climbed from his Subterranean Tunneller, straightened his top hat, and strode into the underground chamber. ‘Surrender!’ he cried. ‘There is no escape for you now!’

Standing amid the steam and dust, Cressida Mandeville – his equally young and equally brilliant arch-enemy – raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s odd. I was just about to say the same thing to you.’

The voluptuous Cressida raised a long, slender finger and pointed it simply at Lucius.  On her command, masked men stepped out from the shadows, armed with machine guns.  Lucius glanced upwards towards the balcony that towered above him, and saw additional armed henchman crowd around the circular balcony, their guns aimed at him.

Lucius smirked, ‘I hope they’re not aiming at me.’ He looked up at his arch-nemesis. He had to admit, she was beautiful.  Her vibrant red hair glinted in the brightly lit chamber and her eyes were like emeralds; green and glistening.  Her black, skin-tight combat suit, fitted with every weapon and escape mechanism possible, was strapped to her belt, ready to be used at a moment’s notice.

Cressida grinned evilly, showing her ludicrously white teeth.  ‘Lucius, my dear Lucius.  I’m afraid they are aiming at you.  You see, you’re a…hindrance…’

‘Hey!’ Lucius retaliated.

‘…to my plan,’ she snapped back.  ‘As you can see, the machine behind me has enough power to destroy Metropolis.’  She stepped aside and Lucius finally saw the machine he had been sent to destroy… the object that could destroy all of humanity and end peace…

Lucius looked at the weapon, frowning. ‘Ah, Cressida, my dear, I don’t know if you know this, but your weapon is a canary…’

Lucius in fact was right.  The ‘weapon’ was a small yellow canary chirping and fluttering away happily in a tiny bird cage.

‘Yes, ingenious, isn’t it?’ Cressida replied, as she circled around the bird cage. ‘This bird is not a bird.  It’s actually a robot, armed with a tiny atomic bomb which my scientists have invented.  This bird will flutter into the heart of Metropolis and detonate, destroying your precious city.’

Lucius gritted his teeth in anger.  Cressida continued. ‘We are developing more birds to destroy the world, and then I will be ruler.’  She smiled sympathetically. ‘I’m sorry, Lucius, but you’re an impediment to my plan.  And now… I must kill you. FIRE!’

The thugs cocked their guns and began firing at Lucius. Bullets sprayed around him as he ducked for cover.  Lucius drew his top hat and threw it at the men on the balcony.  The top hat, which was actually a boomerang-like weapon, swung around and hit every gunner on the balcony, knocking them out.

He quickly disposed of the remaining henchmen and turned around to where Cressida was standing, the bird bomb nestled in her hand.

‘Goodbye, Lucius.  I’ll miss you.’

Cressida pulled a nearby lever.  The ground beneath her gave way and she disappeared into the darkness.  Lucius ran to where she had been standing and dove into the unknown…

By Christopher Nice, Year 8 (Male)