It was a typical Friday afternoon in the coffee shop. Fred, the barista, was wiping out coffee cups and not paying much attention to who was coming into the shop. A group of penguins, perhaps numbering ten or so, entered the coffee shop. They were dressed in black hoodies, toques, and masks. They all carried Halloween buckets. They looked gruff.
'May I take your orders?' Fred asked the crowd, turning back into the business-like barista that he was. 'I have hot cocoa brewing. Or how about a caramel latte? It's really good.'
'No coffee for us,' said one of the penguins. He held out his bucket. 'Give us all your money and lay on the floor. This is a robbery, got that? Money, now!'
Fred looked at them in dismay. Usually the pizza parlour was the target of robberies, not the coffee shop! Still, he decided it was best to cooperate. He dumped the tip jar into a bucket and hit the floor as instructed. He groaned in dismay, but remained as quiet as possible.
In a corner, two other penguins were reading the daily newspaper. They nodded and slipped outside, and the robbers never noticed them escaping. The bandit leader was crowing to his gang about their successful robbery, until he heard a voice behind him.
'Halt right there! Your crime has not gone unnoticed by us! Drop that bucket or get ready to feel the heat of my plasma wave!' The rescuers were Shadow Guy and Gamma Gal! The robbers did drop the buckets, then spread out, ready to attack.
At a signal from the bandit leader, the gang closed in on the two super heroes. They divided into two groups of five penguins each, and closed in on the two super heroes, who never moved from where they stood.
'Oh, you don't give up?' Shadow Guy asked, with irony in his voice. 'Ok then, we warned you! Gamma Gal, let's show them we mean business! Shadow beam attack!' A dark blast sent several criminals flying through the air.
'Gamma ray blast!' crowed Gamma Gal, sending an attack at the other robbers. They, too, hit the ground with heavy thuds. 'Wow, they fall easy, eh, Shadow Guy?'
'Yes they do, Gamma Gal,' Shadow Guy replied, shaking his head. He picked up the dropped buckets, and took one over to where Fred lay behind the counter. 'Here's your money, sir. I suppose the rest of this came from the pizza parlour. Well, off we go, then! Let's fly, Gamma Gal!'
The two super heroes took off, and Fred took the bucket and restored all the tip money into the tip jar. The robbers, having been tied up neatly by the super heroes, were all taken to a clinic for counselling. As to the fates of Shadow Guy and Gamma Gal, that must remain a mystery.
Finis.
