"Now," came the ancient voice over the radio, "attach the time circuit to the black wire in the jet car and the time display to the green wire on the dashboard."
 
Buckaroo Banzai attached the appropriate wire to the triangular circuit and the LCD display.
 
"That should just about do it, Dr. Brown," he said.  "Thanks for the assistance installing your time circuit; let me know if there's anything I can do for you."
 
"No problem, Dr. Banzai; careful on those tests now."  Buckaroo turned off the radio and made the last few adjustments on the jet car.  Seconds later Peggy came into the garage with drinks.
 
"Here you go cowboy," she said sweetly.  "How's the alterations going?"
 
"All finished here; all we have to do is test it.  Any word from Perfect Tommy on his investigation of the goings on in New York?"
 
"Yeah, he reported in over an hour ago but I didn't want to interrupt you, dear; you were working so hard.  Apparently a new crime boss has come into town, or rather, come back into town."
 
"What do you mean?"
 
"Well, he calls himself the Green Hornet..."
 
"The Hornet! He's back?!? But how, he's gotta be at least 90 by now?"
 
"Tommy and the rest of his team are working on it; they're considering descendants of the original Hornet, whoever that was."
 
"I've always thought there was something odd about the whole Hornet story.  I mean the guy never really did commit any real crime, the only thing the cops ever found was his "seal" at each scene where they captured another mobster.  The man did more good than he did harm."
 
"Anyway, they're still going at it but Tommy wants to know what you want them to do if they find him."
 
"All right, have Reno hop on the go-phone and tell him to hold whoever it is until I get there.  Now, how about we go out and get some dinner huh?"
 
"Sound good; you go lock up while I get ready."
 

Outside the Banzai Institute compound, a '57 Chevy pulled up to the main gates.  Two people got out of the car and hit the call button on the gate speaker.  From behind the gate a figure appeared.
 
"Yeah, wadda ya want/" the figure asked.
 
"We need to see Buckaroo Banzai," Evlyn replied.  "Its an emergency."
 
"Yeah, we all need to see Buckaroo and its always an emergency, now go on and stop buggin me.  Christ, always on the gate, I'm beginin' to feel somewhat neglected here."
 
"Who are you anyway?"
 
"Pinky Carruthers, Blue Blaze Irregular."
 
"Look, just call up to the main building, tell him I'm a Shamballan and that I need his assistance.  He'll know what that means."
 
"This is really unusual," Pinky said as he glanced at Azrael's ring, "but I feel somewhat motivated to go and tell him.  Awright, wait here and I'll go and tell him."
 
"All right."
 
Buckaroo came out of the bathroom after cleaning up to see Penny gliding down the stairs.
 
"Wow, Peggy you look..."
 
At that very moment Pinky burst into the room.
 
"Buckaroo we got visitors claimin an emergency. One of 'em says she's a Shamballan.  That mean anything to you?"
 
"SHAMBALLAN!  Let her in immediately."
 
Chapter Two

"Give it up Hornet," the police commissioner yelled through the bullhorn.  "There's no way out for you, give up now and we'll make this as easy as possible."
 
"Sorry, Commissioner," Paul Reid whispered to himself.  "I'm not going to be able to do that, for Diana's sake."  Suddenly, Paul felt a tap on his shoulder.  Whipping around, he found the muzzle of the gun Perfect Tommy held in his left hand up against his nose.
 
"Hornet, I'm here to get you out of this, but you're going to have to answer a few questions afterwards. Deal?" Perfect Tommy offered.
 
"Yeah," Paul said, "Where's Kato?"
 
"Over there, gun muzzle to her face just like you."
 
"Kato, we're going with them.  Do whatever they say."
 
"Yes, Hornet," the Asian looking girl said.

"This way," Tommy ordered motioning towards a heating vent.  "That's the way out; follow me."
 
The Hornet and Kato followed Tommy and the three members of Tommy's team followed them, guns readied, thus preventing their escape.  Paul wondered who his mysterious saviors were and what it was exactly that they wanted.  He hoped it wasn't anything he'd have to stop them for.
 
"So who are you and what exactly is it that you want?" the Hornet asked.
 
"Name's Tommy, Perfect Tommy; maybe you heard a me?"
 
"Who hasn't?  You're one of the Hong Kong Cavaliers, biggest band on earth, so whadda you want with me and Kato here?"
 
"The Banzai Institute has taken a particular interest in you, Hornet; we don't believe you're any kind of criminal at all, and neither was your ancestor who started the entire Hornet lineage."
 
"How did you... Nevermind, when it comes to the Banzai Institute one should know never to ask questions.  Well, you're right, we're not criminals and we never will be.  Every Hornet that ever was has sought only justice.  The reason the first Green Hornet put on this mask was to catch those criminals who worked around the law, those that were untouchable by the system.  He decided to fight them with their own methods."
 
"Not bad, so how come he wanted everyone to think he was a crook?"
 
"He didn't, it just sort of, well, happened.  Being associated with criminals and not having it known what side you're on, well, it kinda gives people ideas, you know?"
 
"Yeah, all too well, but that's another story.  Anyway," Tommy said, "Here's the end of the line."  The group climbed out of the heating duct.
 
"Well, while we'd love to stay and chat," the Hornet said as he climbed out, "We really have to go."   The Hornet pulled a small microphone from under his tie.  "Beauty, pick us up," he said into the mike causing the futuristic Black Beauty to race around the corner and stop in front of him.  Pushing Tommy out of the way so that he and Kato could jump in.

As the rest of Tommy's team crawled out of the duct he turned to one of them and said, "Turn on the tracer we put on that little go cart of his."
 

Paul Reid raced home in the sleek Black Beauty as he pondered his mysterious saviors.  He wondered how much they could be trusted and weither they really were trying to do what they said they were.  He and Mishi Kato continued to drive on, never noticing the bus following far behind them.
 
They soon pulled up to what was once the apartment of his great uncle, Britt Reid I, the original Green Hornet.  Grabbing what appeared to be an ordinary garage door opener from the glovebox, Paul hit the button on the remote and instantly, a door opened in the building wall through which he drove the Black Beauty.  Pressing the remote a second time he closed the door and he and Mishi exited the car.
 
"Paul, do you really think those were Hong Kong Cavaliers?"
 
"Well, I recognized the one called Perfect Tommy but the rest must have been Blue Blazers."
 
"Blue Blazers?"
 
"Buckaroo Banzai's elite paramilitary organization, the Blue Blaze Irregulars.  What they wanted with us I'm still not sure of."
 
"You're about to be assured," came a voice from behind them.  They whipped around to see the door closing again and Tommy and the Blue Blazers standing in the garage.
 
"How did you get in here?  No one has ever found the Hornet's lair," Paul demanded.  Tommy reached down under the Black Beauty's rear bumper and pulled off the small tracking device.
 
"The Banzai Institute makes the most futuristic and advanced pieces of technology known to man.  Now look, I've been ordered to hold you until Buckaroo gets here if necessary, but I don't want to have to do that against your will, so don't make me do it."
 
"So what do you suggest?"
 
"We pick a place to meet, a neutral ground; we and Buckaroo will come there and you can talk to him yourself to find out what he wants."
 
Paul thought and said, "Sounds fair, but I pick the place."
 
"All right."
 
Chapter Three

"I apologize for the wait Evlyn," Buckaroo said, "You see I'm the only one here that knows the true origins of my father.  Everyone outside the network has been told he came from Hiroshima Japan; I mean if they knew he had come from a legendary mystical city, I'd have even more problems with certain government officials than I already do.  Now, what seems to be the problem?"
 
"The rightful rulers of Shamballa have been killed," Evlyn replied.   "I am now the true ruler of the city.  I've decided that it's time our people were free again."
 
"But why now? Why have you all of a sudden decided to go back?"
 
Evlyn glanced at Azrael who instantly understood what she wanted.  He looked at Buckaroo and suddenly, he was no longer there.  From every corner of the room emanated a ghostly laughter.
 
"Oh my god," Buckaroo exclaimed, "He's back?!?"
  
"Not exactly," Evlyn corrected him, "It's not him, it's... another body, but the same Wrath all right; the demon is back but not the man.  Now, this is the signal we've been waiting for; the time for attack is now.  Will you help us?"
 
"Yes, but I don't know where the city is, and you've already said you don't either so how do we find... wait, I remember.  There is one who might be able to help us.  They say he knows everything there is to know about Asian cultures, no matter where."
 
"So how do we find this guy?"
 
"He used to live in Chinatown out in San Francisco."
 
"California?  It'll take us forever to get there."
 
"You ever seen a jet car?"
 
Just then Peggy burst into the room.  "Buckaroo, Rawhide says Tommy's on the marconi and he's made a deal with the Hornet to meet him tonight.  Hey, what's goin on?"
 
"Penny, this is Evlyn Sade and that," Buckaroo said motioning towards the now reappeared Azrael, "is Azrael Praetor.  Um, you'd better sit down, there's something Evlyn and I need to tell you."
 
After Buckaroo's explanation Peggy sat awestruck, partly because Buckaroo had hidden so much from her, but moreover because he was part of an entire legacy which had suddenly reappeared.
 
"I-I don't know what to say, lost cities, mystic superheros, the last descendant of Ghengis Kahn, and now you want to go attack this place!"
 
"I know it's difficult to believe, but this is my heritage, it's something that means almost as much to me as you do.  I have to help them free the rest of that civilization, or at least try to.  Look, we've faced worse, look at that entire episode with Hanoi Xan, or the Yoyodyne/Planet Ten thing; this won't be any different."
 
"I suppose you're right, this is something you have to do.  It's your duty to save those people.  Just, please be careful."
 
"I will, come on, you know me."
 
"Why do you think I said it."
 
Buckaroo turned towards Evlyn and Azrael.  "I think we should go out to New York and resolve this thing with the Hornet..."
 
"Hornet, as in the Green variety," Azrael interrupted.
 
"Yes, you know of him?"
 
"I-I don't know, I seem to have memories of him, a meeting with him once, but they're very vague, as if in a past life or something."
 
"I remember my father telling me a story about an incident between my grandfather and the Hornet."
 
"Th-th-that's it, I've... inherited his memories somehow; Wrath has in some way retained them over the years and now I have them."
 
"The jet car should be all set now," Buckaroo said, "let's take it to New York and then on to San Francisco."
 
Chapter Four

The jet car erupted onto the George Washington Bridge as Tommy and his Blue Blaze team and the Hornet and Mishi Kato looked on.  From the shore another watched, unknown to all.  Through his binoculars he began to read the lips of those present.
 
"Glad you could make it Hornet," Buckaroo began, "Now, down to business.  You want to know what the Banzai Institute wants with you, correct?"
 
"Yeah, that's right."
 
"Well, I'm interested in you because I believe you and your predecessors are guilty of no crimes.  I want the chance to prove..."
 
"No.  My mobster image is as much a tool as it is a setback.  What's in it for you anyway?"
 
"Well, having observed your actions for the past months I've realized you'd make a powerful ally."
 
"Ah, I see, you want me as an ally but as long as I'm wanted we can't be seen working together eh?"
 
"Exactly.  Well," said Buckaroo turning towards the jet car, "My offer stands if you decided to change your mind."
 
"Wait," Azrael cried out, "Buckaroo if we're going to assault Shamballa we're going to need all the help we can get.  Isn't there any way we can have the Hornet help us without incriminating you in the process?"
 
"Help you," the Hornet said, "What are you talking about; what assault?"
 
"Hold on, there's someone else who might be able to explain things better," Buckaroo said glancing at Azrael who promptly vanished without the Hornet noticing.  A now familiar hollow laughter filled the night.
 
"Oh my god," cried the Hornet, "He told me about something like this.  SHADOW, IS THAT YOU?"
 
"HAHA HAHA HAHA HAHA HA.  IT IS HORNET; THE SHADOW HAS RETURNED!"
 
"I-I've heard the stories of your doings from the first, how you allied yourself with him to stop Rasputin when he returned to New York.  How have you survived for so long, Shadow?"
 
"YOU SHOULD WELL KNOW THAT HEROES NEVER DIE; THEY ARE SIMPLY REPLACED."
 
"So you aren't the original Shadow?"
 
"THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF TIME FOR EXPLANATION LATER.  RIGHT NOW WE NEED YOUR HELP IN OUR MISSION.  WE ARE ASSAULTING THE MYSTICAL CITY OF SHAMBALLA WHICH HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY SHIWAIN KAHN.  KAHN HAS ENSLAVED THE PEOPLE THERE AND WON'T HESITATE TO KILL ANYONE EVEN THINKING ABOUT REBELLION.  WE'RE THEIR ONLY HOPE."
 
"Please Hornet," Evlyn begged, "If you truly are fighting for justice in the world, then help us. Those are my people there and without us they don't stand a chance."
 
"Very well," the Hornet said.  "Now, as the boy said, how will you avoid being connected with me, Dr. Banzai?"
 
"Well, I can't very well help it if your car accidentally gets hooked onto the back of my jet car as we enter the eighth dimension, can I?"
 
"Good point."
 
The watcher on the bank lifted a cellular phone to his right ear which had a large scar at the top which prevented him from hearing out of the ear.  Realizing this he switched the phone to his good ear.
 
"Master, Banzai has finished his meeting with the Hornet; what do you wish me to do?"
 
"Is the Hornet leaving yet?"
 
"No, he appears to be hooking his car onto the back of Banzai's jet car.  He won't be leaving until Banzai does."
 
"Pity, I had hoped I would not have to involve the Hornet in this.  Honor among thieves and such.  Very well, tell your men to attack."
 
"Yes, Master Xan."  With that the man hung up.  "Now Banzai shall pay for trying to kill Master Xan," the man said to himself and then picking up the phone again speed-dialed his troop commander.
 
"Yes, general."
 
"Attack the bridge; leave no one standing."
 
The silence of the night was shattered by the sound of twelve horribly beweaponed speedboats racing towards the bridge from either side and  seven black Apache helicopters thundering out of the cloudy night sky.
 
Turning to one of the Blue Blazers, Buckaroo yelled, "QUICK, GET ON THE WORLD WATCH ONE PC AND GET A MESSAGE TO ARCLIGHT.  GET ALL BLUE BLAZER'S WITHIN FIVE MINUTES DRIVE OUT HERE NOW!"
 
Chapter Five
 
Donovan Jude smiled to himself with the knowledge that, come morning, the Department of Defense would discover that an entirely new country called Psychopathia had declared war on the U.S.  The Computer screen reflected his image as he almost laughed himself out of his chair.  This would make him the greatest hacker in all of New York.  Suddenly a message appeared through the Blue Blaze Network, a system that was to be used in only the most dire of emergencies.  The message was from the head of the network, ArcLight.
 
"Help," it said; "Buckaroo in trouble at George Washington Bridge.  BRING HEAVY ARTILLERY!"
 
"Jesus," Donovan muttered.  Flying from the chair he ran out the door and down the stairs pressing the emergency alarm at the bottom of the staircase.  A klaxon sounded as everyone in the apartment building ran out of their apartments.  "HURRY," he shouted, "BUCKAROO'S IN TROUBLE AT THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE!"  He was suddenly relieved at having moved into the Banzai apartment building created especially for Blue Blazers.
 
Back at the bridge one of the helicopters flew down onto the bridge.  The pilot locked his missiles directly on Buckaroo and World Watch One.
 
"Lookout!" Buckaroo shouted; "He hits that bus and we're all gone!  There's enough ammunition in there to take out half this bridge!"
 
From one end of the bridge one could faintly make out moving figures. Suddenly, the pilot shot a single sidewinder missile.  From out of the darkness a second missile came, not from the helicopter, but from the end of the bridge!  The missiles hit each other, blowing them both up.  A third missile shot came from the end of the bridge, obliterating the helicopter.  Onto the bridge came six heavily armed Blue Blazers firing at the boats and Apaches.  Donovan tossed a grenade launcher to Buckaroo and they too began firing at the attackers.  Two more missiles took out two more helicopters as Donovan and Buckaroo fired grenade after grenade at the boats taking out three of them. Realizing the futility of the attack, the remaining assassins retreated.
 
"Good job Blue Blazer; what's your name?" Buckaroo said to Donovan.

"Blue Blazer Donovan Jude, call sign Sirhaxalot, sir; I'm from the new Banzai apartments.  I received a message from ArcLight that you were in trouble over here so I brought in the cavalry."
 
"Thank you Donovan, I appreciate your help.  We could use it on our next mission as well.  We're going..."
 
"Doesn't matter where you're going, I'm in, and so are the rest of the Blue Blazers."
 
"Good, now, you and your team get on World Watch One; Tommy 'll take you back to the Institute and update you on what's goin on.  I've got to take the jet car out to San Francisco."  Turning to Perfect Tommy Buckaroo instructed, "Tommy, I want you to mobilize the main strike teams.  I want Savage and Mojo teams as well as the Rugsuckers and the Kolodney Brothers.  Take the Blue Blazers back to the Institute while the three of us go out to San Francisco.  We'll meet you back home when we're done."  With that, Buckaroo jumped back into the jet car and drove off into the eighth dimension.

END OF PART TWO

Go to PART THREE
 
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