Rip Haywire by Dan Thompson for April 02, 2024

Ka-Batman moment! And you are so busted, ma’am!

“Umm . . . Hiya handsome. I never did like that Peter guy. Let’s grab those passports and cash and head to Aruba!”

“Tickle Me Elmo?”

Don’t worry, wife of Skull goon. Rip won’t give you the same treatment he gave Peter. But you’ll be spilling everything that Peter told you about the project, willingly. It’s the effect Rip has female stooges, or, wives of stooges. Once they look at Rip, all resistance seems to fade. The only one immune is Cobra, and, she’s far above the stooge level.

“Can I buy a vowel?”

There is a possibility that Rip has only been held captive for 12 hours and this whole scheme was designed to really screw with Rip’s mind(especially if Skull is the puppetmaster behind Operation Haywire, explaining why they went with the ‘Wag The Dog’ route at that start and why Peter has swallowed the doctor’s potential lies so well-the other X’s might be the names for props in a soundstage, meaning Rip might already be near Starlight ala a LARP-like Wizard of Oz. This is Rip’s dream, after all)!

KA-BUSTED!

And yet another goon falls to Rip’s giggling knuckles. Lady, you and Peter aren’t going anywhere except to jail.

It’s starting to get real again.

“I guess… I guess I better be going. BYE!!!”