Tara Is Cold, Steed's Feeling Bold

Tara Is Cold, Steed's Feeling Bold is the seventh chapter in the Wombles Three.

It was snowing heavily.  The big man trudged through the deep, crunchy snow.  A car was waiting for him as he exited the ATS prop.  He hated flying but a sea crossing would take too long.  A tall man in a black suit and dark glasses held open the door of the black Mercedes Benz.  The big man got in.  “Are we secure?” he asked.  “Da” replied the driver.  He calmly drove away from the air strip.  They didn’t want attention and there was a long drive ahead.

Tara watched her small screen.  It wasn’t exciting work but the laptop was subtle.  Nobody would suspect anything from such an ordinary item. Laptops were no longer technology just everyday tools.  Tara’s laptop looked particularly ordinary but the software she used now was not. The signals had been steady for some time and it was difficult to stay awake.  She didn’t know how she did it but she did.  Long enough to see that one strong signal.  Just one blip out of sequence.  Stronger, brighter, distinct but brief.  Tara fortunately knew her brief.  But only her brief.  Somebody else knew more.

The black Mercedes C Class approached its destination.  The big man put on his thick fur coat and goggles. His driver did the same.  They got out and pushed through the snowy gale. As they reached the edge of the quarry a thin red beam of light scanned across the two men.  They waited but not for long.  A scraping sound started.  The sound gradually got louder and as it did the crack in the rocky wall ahead of the men got wider.  A gaping black hole appeared in the wall.  In they both walked.

As they walked in the wall closed in on them.  Once closed a burst of light dazzled them.  They were in a silver metal corridor.  After a way an opening appeared in a wall.  It would have been a dead end but now a large circular laboratory emerged.  As the men entered the wall slid back shut.  Now they walked to the centre of the lab.  The driver looked pensive but the big man was calm as ever.  He had been here before.  All that concerned him was whether or not to trust his new driver. The previous man had been eliminated when his disloyalty was discovered.

A sudden jerk, a loud clap of air and down went the floor.  The new driver was terrified.  He thought he would die but a transparent wall stabilised his free fall.  In seconds it was over.  They landed without a sound in an identical looking lab.  The big man walked over to an odd looking character at the edge of the lab.  Some other men came to take the body of the driver away.

“So you suspected him also?” said the strange character.  He had long orangish face and was covered in hair. “Yes Lord Omsk” replied the big man. “How did you despatch him?” asked Lord Omsk.  “I didn’t tell him about the regulation anti-gravity shoes My Lord”  “Good!  Does anyone suspect you Grandma?”  “Nobody” replied the big man.  “Excellent news!  I too have excellent news.  The Venussian Changling is performing well.”  Grandma looked pleased but asked nervously “Is she operating within the programme My Lord?”  Lord Omsk replied angrily “Do not doubt the Professor’s power!  The Changling is trapped in a strong mental prison.  Even if it were to break out it would die in seconds by imploding it’s own mind!”  Grandma bowed his head.  “Lord Omsk the girl Tara?”  Lord Omsk laughed loudly.  “She rather grandly believes she is here in Tomsk to work on the Russian X Files! She has no idea of the experiment or that she is guinea pig!”.

Tara was rather cold in her Russian cottage.  Grandma had told her it was an honour to be chosen to lead the Russian X Files but she wasn’t so sure.  She called the secret number she had been given.  “Hello Grandma?”  “Yes Tara. Remember I only want results. Don’t waste my time!”  Tara nervously replied “It’s not a waste of time! I’ve seen the signal.  The printed report traces the power source to an old radar tower I’m on my way now!”.

Grandma called the radar tower in question.  “Ready Professor?” he asked.  “Ja Herr Grandma.  Experiment is ready Ja!  Now just need the girl.  Venussian octopus is ready and power is charged.  Just to strap in girl and release power!”  “Very good Professor I will join you later to see our latest changling.”

Lord Omsk switched on a screen.  It showed a tower with a big white sheet moving underneath it.  Whilst mesmorised wombles attended to the thing under the sheet.  “Very good” said Grandma.

Steed and Cathy were helping PMW dismantle James.  Then they put him back together with all his wires mixed up to see what happened.  What happened wasn’t actually very good.  “Should’ve thought before we did that” said Steed.  What had happened was that James went and tried to destroy the house whilst singing For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow.  But they stopped him.  Although, he did manage to destroy the part that had always been Steed’s apartment, and all that was left of Steed’s house now was the part that had originally been Tara’s apartment.

“Steed we need a bigger house!” said Cathy.  “Yes we do and I know where to get it” replied Steed.  He got his sword umbrella and walked into HQ.  All the agents came flying out one by one. They lay in a heap in the garden. Steed walked out of HQ jauntily whilst whistling a happy tune.  “Now we have a bigger house!” he said.  “I like it!” said Cathy “but what about this lot?”  “No problem” said a familiar voice.  It was Mr Class and his window cleaners.  The Classy Glass Window Cleaning Company packed all the agents including Mother and One Ten into vans and drove off.

“Where are they going?” asked Cathy.  “The new HQ at Dreemy Kreem Dairies” replied Steed.  “The deal is that Mr Class is the new number two.” “Oh and who is number one?” asked Cathy. “That would be telling!” said Steed. “Is it me?  Is it you?” said Cathy.  “Say it’s us and I’m dreaming!” replied Steed.  Steed and Cathy took over the Avengers but they were yet to find out!