When Green Meets Grey: Part Six

The Girl in Grey adopted a fighting stance, despite the fact that she was facing an inanimate foe. She dodged its flew, which was fishing for her neck, landing a blow on the thing's plastic casing. Although the thing cracked, it had no discernable effect.

"I've got a little problem here!" she spoke into her wrist-watch radio. "Believe it or not, I'm being attacked by a pyschotic hoover!"

There was no reply. Before the Girl in Grey could complain, however, a skylight shattered, as the Green Man dropped through it. In his hand, he held a strangely-shaped gun. Fired at the vacum cleaner, it quickly reduced it to a lump of melted plastic.

"Microwave gun," the Green Man informed her. "It made quite a mess of Monty Bristow's monster on Mount Sinai. And it works on animated machines as well."

"How...?" the girl in Grey regarded the melted vacum cleaner incredulously.

"I'll tell you over supper," the Green Man told her.

"And where," the Girl in Grey asked, "are we going to eat?"

"Come with me and I'll show you," the Green Man held out a hand.

Moments later, the two crime-fighters were sat on a tartan rug by the lake of the National Botanic Garden of Wales, the scene illuminated by the moon and the great glasshouse. Champagne glasses touched, as they unpacked the picnic before them. The Girl in Grey wore her mask and cowl with a floaty gown, while the Green Man wore his usual costume.

"The blackmailer threatened that the population of Carmarthen would be killed," the Green Man confirmed. "But we didn't know how he meant to do it. Now we know that those people would have been killed by their own domestic appliances."

"No wonder they paid up," the Girl in Grey sighed.

"In one, my dear," the Green Man smiled. "And Carmarthenshire paid up. That must have enboldened the villains. And there's no guarantee that the next target 'll pay up."

"We have to stop them," the Girl in Grey looked annoyed.

"And that starts tomorrow, my dear." The Green man smiled down at the Girl in Grey. "After all, right now we haven't any clues to pursue."

"And I've got a better idea, anyhow," the Girl in Grey smiled, reaching for the chin of her cowl. Moments later, she had pulled off the mask and cowl, and was looking appealingly at her companion. "Can you guess what it is?" She openied her mouth slightly, still smiling cutely.

"Indeed, my dear," the Green Man removed his own mask. "But no comments about my face."

"Why speak?" the Girl in Grey leaned forward, yes closing. "I've always said that actions speak louder than..."

She did not complete the sentence, for at that moment the Green Man's lips met hers.