Admitting to Miss Ruby he was responsible for the destruction of her golden gate bridge was one of the most difficult tasks the Great Chieftain had ever had to perform in his long career of being an Evil Mastermind. Usually, he left this sort of job to the lawyers who made any concessions so incomprehensible that the recipient of the letter didn't know whether to throw the letter in the bin and hope the issue went away by itself, or engage his own legal team to prevent being sued later on. Sometimes, the Great Chieftain would embed an obscurely-worded concession - which, if read the right way, might not even seem like a concession - within an appropriately insulting letter, accompanied by a small box of milk chocolates and some flowers to soften the criticism. In these cases, the recipient was usually left feeling angrier about the reproof than satisfied there may have been some dismal attempt to accept responsibility.
However, on this occassion, it was different. It was a critical part of the plan that the Great Chieftain made the acceptance of responsibility seem genuine - an act he struggled with at the best of times, let alone when he was not even the one at fault. It took every fibre of his being to refrain from defending himself, and blaming the destruction of Miss Ruby's bridge squarely on the shoulders of his idiot-cousin on his mother's side, who clearly couldn't tell a woman from a war-mongering, clean-shaven lunatic.
"Good afternoon Great Chieftan", Miss Ruby had said.
"Good afternoon, my dear arch-Nemesis," the Great Chieftain had replied.
"Look Great Chieftain," said she, "I'm actually quite busy and don't really have time for your usual theatrics. Please could you get to the point? And please, if you interrupted me just to sing to me 'Bridge Over troubled water' again, you can hang up now."
The Great Chieftain had sighed. His arch-nemesis really needed to learn some patience. Would the evil-masterminds that everybody had come to know and love have become so popular if they demanded everything they wanted immediately? However, he did not have time to dwell on these thoughts, because he could sense his arch-nemesis was just about to hang up.
"Look, Miss Ruby, I errrrr, have somewhat of a guilty conscience."
His arch-nemesis seemed surprised. "You have a conscience?" she asked, surprisedly.
"Well, somewhat of a conscience," the Great Chieftain admitted. "A conscience is one of those pesky things an evil mastermind tries to get rid of early in his career, but unfortunately, in my case, no matter how much I prune it, it keeps growing back..."
"Oh, like a wart?" asked Miss Ruby helpfully.
The Great Chieftain instinctively put his hand to his foot. "How did she know?" he thought suspiciously. Had Miss Ruby been spying on him using her own version of the International Spy Vision?
"Oh, errrr, well, yes, much like a wart, only much prettier," he explained, making sure the toe undergoing wart-treatment was well hidden from view.
"Look," explained Miss Ruby, "I've got some food on the oven. I really need to go..."
"Oh!" exclaimed the Great Chieftain. "I just wanted to let you know that I errr...."
"Yes?" asked Miss Ruby impatiently.
"Your bridge," answered the Great Chieftain.
"What about my bridge?" asked Miss Ruby, deliberately and suddenly much more attentive.
"I errrr..... well..... I might have..... that is to say..... I accidentally..... well, it wasn't really an accident..... I destroyed it. It was me!" the Great Chieftain explained.
The Great Chieftain could hear Miss Ruby gasp on the other end of the telephone. "And why would you have done that?" she asked, when she had regained her breath.
"To teach you a lesson!" the Great Chieftain explained. "I was jealous of your Ruby triangle and well, I wanted you to know how it feels not to have something that someone else wants..."
At this point, the Empress E-Ruby of Rubyland mercifully hung up the telephone - rather loudly too on this occasion, the Great Chieftain thought. He breathed a sigh of relief. Stage one of his stupid cousin's plan complete, now for stage two...
He began to think to himself about phase two of his cousin's plan. It did seem rather violent - the assassination of history's ugliest-looking insane-woman - if indeed she was a woman at all. He briefly considered touching base with the Empress Jennymae from Jennymaesia and ordering a brief femininity check, but decided against it due to time being of the essence, and also, the Jennymaesians success rate in that regard were not exactly 100%.
K Harris was Captain Biden's right-hand man (or woman)..... And Captain Biden was already understood by all and sundry to be living in an alternate universe..... Were Captain Biden deemed incapable of performing his functions as Captain..... The Lieutenant K Harris would automatically be promoted into his place..... But..... Given the Lieutenant's questionable history (not to mention birth records), such an act would also bring into question the legitimacy of K Harris to step into her former Captain's role..... A nefarious smile crossed the Great Chieftain's face. He would honour his cousin's request to assist. But he would not assassinate the Lieutenant. He would get him promoted into a job that he was ineligible to perform.....
However, on this occassion, it was different. It was a critical part of the plan that the Great Chieftain made the acceptance of responsibility seem genuine - an act he struggled with at the best of times, let alone when he was not even the one at fault. It took every fibre of his being to refrain from defending himself, and blaming the destruction of Miss Ruby's bridge squarely on the shoulders of his idiot-cousin on his mother's side, who clearly couldn't tell a woman from a war-mongering, clean-shaven lunatic.
"Good afternoon Great Chieftan", Miss Ruby had said.
"Good afternoon, my dear arch-Nemesis," the Great Chieftain had replied.
"Look Great Chieftain," said she, "I'm actually quite busy and don't really have time for your usual theatrics. Please could you get to the point? And please, if you interrupted me just to sing to me 'Bridge Over troubled water' again, you can hang up now."
The Great Chieftain had sighed. His arch-nemesis really needed to learn some patience. Would the evil-masterminds that everybody had come to know and love have become so popular if they demanded everything they wanted immediately? However, he did not have time to dwell on these thoughts, because he could sense his arch-nemesis was just about to hang up.
"Look, Miss Ruby, I errrrr, have somewhat of a guilty conscience."
His arch-nemesis seemed surprised. "You have a conscience?" she asked, surprisedly.
"Well, somewhat of a conscience," the Great Chieftain admitted. "A conscience is one of those pesky things an evil mastermind tries to get rid of early in his career, but unfortunately, in my case, no matter how much I prune it, it keeps growing back..."
"Oh, like a wart?" asked Miss Ruby helpfully.
The Great Chieftain instinctively put his hand to his foot. "How did she know?" he thought suspiciously. Had Miss Ruby been spying on him using her own version of the International Spy Vision?
"Oh, errrr, well, yes, much like a wart, only much prettier," he explained, making sure the toe undergoing wart-treatment was well hidden from view.
"Look," explained Miss Ruby, "I've got some food on the oven. I really need to go..."
"Oh!" exclaimed the Great Chieftain. "I just wanted to let you know that I errr...."
"Yes?" asked Miss Ruby impatiently.
"Your bridge," answered the Great Chieftain.
"What about my bridge?" asked Miss Ruby, deliberately and suddenly much more attentive.
"I errrr..... well..... I might have..... that is to say..... I accidentally..... well, it wasn't really an accident..... I destroyed it. It was me!" the Great Chieftain explained.
The Great Chieftain could hear Miss Ruby gasp on the other end of the telephone. "And why would you have done that?" she asked, when she had regained her breath.
"To teach you a lesson!" the Great Chieftain explained. "I was jealous of your Ruby triangle and well, I wanted you to know how it feels not to have something that someone else wants..."
At this point, the Empress E-Ruby of Rubyland mercifully hung up the telephone - rather loudly too on this occasion, the Great Chieftain thought. He breathed a sigh of relief. Stage one of his stupid cousin's plan complete, now for stage two...
He began to think to himself about phase two of his cousin's plan. It did seem rather violent - the assassination of history's ugliest-looking insane-woman - if indeed she was a woman at all. He briefly considered touching base with the Empress Jennymae from Jennymaesia and ordering a brief femininity check, but decided against it due to time being of the essence, and also, the Jennymaesians success rate in that regard were not exactly 100%.
K Harris was Captain Biden's right-hand man (or woman)..... And Captain Biden was already understood by all and sundry to be living in an alternate universe..... Were Captain Biden deemed incapable of performing his functions as Captain..... The Lieutenant K Harris would automatically be promoted into his place..... But..... Given the Lieutenant's questionable history (not to mention birth records), such an act would also bring into question the legitimacy of K Harris to step into her former Captain's role..... A nefarious smile crossed the Great Chieftain's face. He would honour his cousin's request to assist. But he would not assassinate the Lieutenant. He would get him promoted into a job that he was ineligible to perform.....
- 2
- Show all