Week 19.1 – Cortex’s Theory

Previously: Digger had just met the sixth member of Defcon 5, a woman he recognized as Katrina. And now…

“You know each other?” asked Cortex.

“Of course,” Digger said. “That’s Katrina Von Boom, the Detonating Dancer. We celebrated in Vegas together after she won that pole-dancing thing, what was that, six years ago? You dyed your hair.”

Katrina ran a hand through her blonde locks and smiled. “That’s because I’m the Blonde Bombshell now. You can’t strip forever.”

“Guess not,” Digger said. “You look good.”

“Thanks. You do, too.”

“Wait, was that exploding tentacle-thing you?” Digger asked.

“I thought you said you knew her,” Metalord said.

“She couldn’t always do that,” Digger said.

“It’s not a tentacle, just a contrail,” Katrina said. “I make air molecules explode to push me through the air. It’s a noisy way to fly, but it works.”

“Looks cool, too,” Digger said.

“Yeah,” Katrina said. She nodded at Digger’s hands. “So where are your things?”

“Long story,” Digger said. He sat down. “Sorry, I’m still not thinking straight since I took down that robot.”

“You took down a robot?” Cortex asked. “I thought you said you lost your powers.”

“I did,” Digger said.

“He crashed into it with his car,” Metalord explained.

“No way,” Cortex said. “A simple car crash couldn’t have taken one of those down.”

“I must have hit it just right or something,” Digger said. “I broke its knees.”

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”right”]“He thinks that being a genius gives him permission to be rude,” Boon added. Hidari nodded, while Migi mouthed, it doesn’t…[/blockquote]Cortex didn’t say anything for a moment, then walked out of the room. Digger looked at Metalord, who shrugged. “He does that.”

“He thinks that being a genius gives him permission to be rude,” Boon added.

Hidari nodded, while Migi mouthed, it doesn’t.

“Well, anyway, it started in a bar,” Digger said.

He told them the story as well as he could remember it all, and just as everyone in the room was moaning (or laughing) at the disclosure that Digger was robbing Caveat Maledictor’s house, Cortex rushed back into the room carrying a tablet computer. “Digger, I need you to explain something for me.”

Cortex pulled up several camera views of the spot where Digger crashed into the robot. He tapped the screen to freeze the image as the car started to skid, then advanced the videos frame-by-frame with swipes of his finger. “Look at this,” he said. “Those knees are too high to be damaged by collision with a car. But you locked up the wheels in just the right way to make the car not only tumble, but launch up off the ground, striking both knees simultaneously.”

“Okay,” Digger said. “But that sounds like you’re explaining things to me. You wanted me to explain something to you.”

“Yes,” Cortex said. He swiped the video backwards several frames. “What are you doing right here?”

“I don’t know,” Digger said. “Rolling down the window.”

“Exactly,” Cortex said. “Why?”

“To get out?”

“Hmm.” Cortex swiped a few frames forward. “And here you’re opening the car door, right before you hit.”

“What does it matter?” asked Metalord.

“It matters because Digger is living proof of my theory,” Cortex said. “He still has super powers.”

What theory is Cortex talking about? Be here tomorrow for the next informative episode!

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