Can't Get That Song Outta My Head - Part 1

[ButchyBoy]

It was a very hot, late summer afternoon in Old Chicago. Perfect weather for fembots both large and small to stay out of the heat and in nice cilmate controlled rooms, Cricket thought. And that's exactly where she was; in the living room of the large penthouse apartment she shared with her husband, Harry Lang. On this particular afternoon, Cricket was relaxing on the couch, indulging in one of her favorite pastimes; watching old cartoons on one of those retro channels. On the TV screen, a coyote was chasing a road runner in a cartoon desert. Suddenly, the road runner went "beep beep", and stopped dead in his tracks. The coyote however, kept chasing - running right off the edge of a cliff, and onto thin air. When the coyote looked down and saw no land under his feet, he lookled out, then fell to the bottom of the canyon. Cricket just laughed at the silly animal, who never seemed to learn. It reminded her of a certain bad guy, in a certain domed city.

Harry was also there, at his desk, going over the books of his two person agency. Things got kind of slow after they returned from London. They really needed a good paying case soon. He looked over at his robotic partner and friend, blissfully happy on that couch with her cartoons. He never liked to worry her which such things as money being a bit tight. Especially not now. He was very proud of the job she had done on that 'Warlord' adventure, solving the case while he was under that damned hypnotic spell. It had been like watching someone else doing those things like putting the control collar on Cricket. He hated himself for not being able to break out of...whatever it was that madman who called himself Shang did. But, as Cricket reminded him, "That's in the past, Harry. And everything turned out all right." Than she would flash that sweet, simple smile of hers, with both dimples showing, and say to Harry, "I love you." This would make Harry simply melt and give Cricket a long deep kiss and....well....things would happen that would logically follow such a kiss.

Their quiet afternoon was interrupted by a knock at the door. "See who that is, honey", Harry said without looking up from his work. Cricket bounced up from the couch, and looked through the peep hole. There was a yong woman standing there. The first thing Cricket noticed right away was the hair. It was long, strait laced, just over the sholders, and bright shocking pink. She was wearing a faded cut-off t-shirt, equally faded and slightly ripped jeans, and.......green flat heels. Standing behind her was a rather sheepish looking man with round glasses in a three-piece suit. Talk about an odd couple, Cricket thought.

"I've never seen them before Harry", she said. The young robot suddenly gasped. "I think they might be clients." That last word made Harry sit up and take notice.

"Clients??" He raced to clear his desk of all the cluttered work. "Don't just stand there sweetheart, show them in."

Cricket smiled, shouting out, "TV off", before she opened the door, making the cartoons on the screen fade away. Harry stood up, smiling as the couple entered.

"Welcome to New Hope Detective Agency. I'm Harry Lang, how can we help you?"

The young woman walked in the room as if she had thousands of people cheering her on. "Oh, you got that all wrong babe. It's Electra Storm who's going to be helping you. Electra Storm could have gone to that icky GCPF for this, but Electra Storm is bringing it to your.....interesting little outfit. Aren't you lucky??"

Harry looked over at Crick who just shrugged her sholders.

"And just who is...Electra Storm??", Harry asked. The woman gasped and looked at Harry like he was from another planet. That's when the little man behind her moved up to speak to Harry.

"This is Miss Electra Storm, and I'm her manager, Frank King", he said, extending his hand to Harry. "Wellm Mr. King, and Miss Storm, very nice to meet you both. So again, how can we help you?"

King held up a vidphone. "She's been getting distrubing video downloads on her personal number. I've changed it twice, but they still keep coning, and always from an untraceable source."

"Hard trick to pull off, especially these days", Harry observed.

"Here's the latest one", King said, pushing a button. Both Harry and Cricket leaned in to look. The woman calling herself Electra Storm seemed not to want to look. The small screen on the vidphone was showing clips of her in what looked like different concerts. Cricket suddenly recognized her as someone she had seen on the pop music videos. A deep low, almost wispering voice was speaking under the visual.

"Electra Storm.....You think you're hot now? Just wait. If you perform your worldwide concert on Friday, you'll be burning up.....quite litterally. And this is the only place your be doing your encores from."

The last image was a tombstone in a graveyeard saying "Rest in Ashes Electra Storm".

As the message ended, Harry was stroking his chin. "What do you think, Mr. Lang?", King asked.

"Intesting plot, but I don't think it will sell even on MTV 200", Harry answered.

"Yeah, well I'm just worried about who sent, along with all the other messages like it", King said.

Cricket looked over at Electra. "When did you start getting these messages Miss Storm?" The pink-haired women just glanced Cricket over.

"Why is a lowly secratary speaking to Electra Storm. Shouldn't you be doing some....busy work?" Cricket stared right at her. She didn't think much of this 'new client' so far. Harry quickly spoke up before a catfight could even begin to break out.

"Ah, allow me to introduce my wife and partner, Mrs. Cricket Lang." The blond fembot smiled again. She never got tired of hearing that.

Storm raised her eyebrows, "Well, a husband and wife detective team. How adorable. Electra Storm says she's sorry."

"Well.....Cricket Lang accepts", was the reply. Good grief, now she has me doing it, Cricket thought.

"All right then Mr. and Mrs. Lang, here's the deal", King said, rubbing his hands together. "You find out who's threating my star, and you see her concert goes on as scheduled this Friday."

Cricket suddenly became excited. "We get to go to a rock concert? Awsome!" What King said next quickly burst her bubble.

"That's right Mrs. Lang. You two will be VIP guests at Electra Storm's worldwide video concert this Friday at the GolbalCon arena in New Chicago."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Next: Cricket at the Crossroads

[kb7rky]

Yeah, baby! Oh, behave!

Nice lead-in, Butch...can't wait for the successive chapters!

Doug

[DollSpace]

Yay! More Cricket-ness! Awesome start; eagerly awaiting more!

*hugs*
Ryn