Rough Cut: A supervillain takes on the prairie

What follows is a mostly unedited rough draft of a book I'm working on. It's one of about four things I'm writing right now. I really should just pick one and stick with it. Anyone else have trouble with focus? Hey, that's really shiny over there. Where was I? Oh yeah ... anyway, this is mostly a comedy about a supervillain who goes to a really desolate part of South Dakota to set up a base of operations. Why there? Well, I'll get to that in another installment. Hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think. Comment on the blog here or hunt me down on Twitter.

Intuition looked over her new kingdom, and she saw nothing.

There were no trees, no buildings, no people. The slightly rolling, brown-green hills were interrupted only by the occasional old, neglected windmill. The overcast sky clashed with the hill’s color, and the blustery wind provided the only sound. The closest thing to a life form in the area was a recently run-over gopher nearby. The only thing adding any color to the brownish surrounding was her long shadow from the middle of the highway.

It was barren. It was bleak. Above all, to her, it was perfect.

Intuition smiled her crooked smile and signaled to the semi-truck behind her. Inside the truck’s cab, Hoodwink, her sidekick, flipped two switches, turned a dial and left the cab. The rig hummed and started levitating. It got about 10 feet off the ground and flew just above Intuition’s head. She didn’t move or lose her smile, even as the truck’s jets made her green cape swirl.

The truck slowly flew past the rusty, barbed-wire fence and stopped 30 feet into the pasture. Intuition walked toward the fence and held out her right hand. After a second of concentration, she threw her hand down, and the fencing went down with it. She stepped over the wire and into the pasture. Hoodwink followed her.

Intuition pressed a button on her yellow belt, and two satellite dishes sprung out of the semi’s trailer. At that moment, Hoodwink noticed an old pickup truck in the distance on the highway, heading in their direction.

“Ma’am,” she said, tapping Intuition on the shoulder, “there’s a vehicle approaching. We need to hurry — “

Intuition raised her green-gloved hand. Hoodwink immediately got quiet.

The truck made a new noise, one like a wave machine. Hoodwink looked back to the road. The pickup was less than a half-mile away. Hoodwink shifted her feet. She hated it when things were cut close, which seemed to be Intuition’s real power.

The noise got slightly louder. The truck moved within a quarter-mile. Hoodwink breathed faster and sharper.

Seconds later, the noise turned from waves into a loud hum. Hoodwink turned and saw the truck drive by. The driver didn’t turn away from looking straight ahead or from terribly singing along to a country song. Hoodwink exhaled sharply and rolled her eyes.

Intuition smiled. “There. Full power on the inviso-shield,” she said, walking slowly toward the semi. “Now our plan can beg —“

Suddenly, she felt a tug on her cape. She jerked her head around and saw the cape caught on the barbed-wire fence.

Hoodwink pursed her lips. “Yeah, again, we have received the smaller capes I suggested and you signed off on,” she said, pointing to her own blue, waist-length cape. “There’s one on the semi when we —“

Intuition again held up her hand. She slightly twitched the other hand, and her cape came loose.

Hoodwink rolled her eyes, then thought about what she’d like to do to Intuition with that hand.

“OK,” Intuition said. “Let’s start over. Now our plan can begin!”

Check out my sci-fi e-book, “Shock Effect,” here and here. Thanks.