A Magician always has an Ace up his sleeve byHawkeye
Chapter One
“Blasted!” yelled Blackjack as he hit his fist on his desk. “I’m getting sick of you two always
messing up!” he shouted at Diamond and Spade who stood silently in front of him, heads down.
“Come on, Boss,” pleaded Diamond, “It’s not our fault. The Magician...”
“The Magician! And I’m getting sick of you always giving me that excuse!” Jack yelled.
Suddenly he calmed. “Wait a minute...” He sat there silently for a moment, thinking, before looking
back at the pair. “I think you idiots just gave me an idea.”
The two crooks looked at each other, then at their boss, while a large, sinister smile creeped across
Jack’s ugly face. When he didn’t answer right away, Diamond got impatient and spoke up. “Well, what is it
boss?” he asked.
Jack snapped back to reality and replied with a question of his own. “Every time you two blundering
fools try to do something, it’s the Magician that stops you, isn’t it?”
Spade shrugged, “I guess so, boss.” Both him and Diamond had no idea where he was going with
this.
“And he seems to be unbeatable, correct?” Jack asked again, “like he has no weakness?”
“Yeah,” replied Space, “What about it?” He was beginning to feel hurt about his incompetence.
“Oh, but he does have a weakness,” corrected Jack, his smile getting deeper as he said it. “And
that weakness has a name.”
“Huh?” Spade was lost. “What do you mean?”
“I get it, stupid,” Diamond said to Spade, hitting him on the arm. “He means the red head kid.
Cosmo.”
“Right,” said Blackjack, turning his hover chair to face the windows. “Cosmo.”
Chapter Two
“Cosmo, are you ready with that link yet?” asked Ace as he was triple checking his sailing gear.
“Almost. I just have to replace this cuppling and we’ll be really to go!” Cosmo replied.
Ace and Cosmo were just finishing the preparations for Ace’s latest trick; a sailing ship that would
actually take off from the water and fly!
“Okay, dude,” said Cosmo, who was sitting on his PWC, or personal water craft, off to the starboard
side of the old-style sailing ship with its sails down. “We’re ready to go!” He gave Ace the thumbs up and
turned on his headset. Ace did the same. From now on, they would talk via radio. Cosmo was traveling
along side Ace to help if anything went wrong; there were a lot of large rocks in this part of ElectroCity Bay.
For this stunt, just like most of the other huge displays Ace had done, the media was there. In
particular, Duc Paparazzo.
“This is Papzirotto, coming to you live from ElectroCity Bay, where Ace Cooper, the famous
Magician, is about to do his latest trick for us.”
Duc and the camera crew were hovering above the Bay in a news chopter, ready to catch every
second of the event.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he continued, “Ace Cooper is calling for silence. Let’s hear what he has to
say.”
“Okay, Cosmo,” Ace said over the headset, “patch me into the loud speaker system.”
“You got it, Bro.” He tapped away at the tiny portable computer he had with him. “All set, Ace.”
“First of all,” Ace said, his voice echoing off the high cliffs where thousands of people had gathered
to watch, “I want to thank everyone for coming out to see this magic trick. As always, your support is greatly
appreciated.” As Ace finished the normal openings, he concluded with, “And now, let’s see some magic!”
He gave the signal to Cosmo to turn back to the closed loop system, and turned to the helm of the ship.
He had always loved sailing, and thought that it was about time do a major show that involved it.
“Okay, Cosmo, here we go!” Without looking back, Ace raised his hand, and in dazzling flashes of
light, magically raised the sails. Right away they caught and filled with a strong breeze that pushed the ship
forward.
Cosmo started after, but kept his distance off to the side.
They both knew exactly where the “take-off” point was; when the ship would seem to fly up right out
of the water. It wasn’t too much farther ahead. All the ship had to do was pick up a little more speed.
“Okay, Ace,” Cosmo said into his mike, “That big rock is coming up between us. Remember, when I
go around it, we’ll only be cut off for a second, but by then, you should be in the air.”
“Thank you, I remember,” said Ace politely.
“Oh,” added Cosmo, “Good luck.” He started to turn his PWC to the right, to avoid the huge rock
sticking out of the Bay.
* * * * * * * * * * *
“Okay,” said Diamond, “here he comes.”
“Uh,” said Spade, his forehead wrinkling as he thought, “What exactly do I do again?”
Diamond moaned. “We wait until he comes around the corner there.” He pointed to the edge of
the large rock. “Then when his radio is out, you raise the net to stop him.”
“Right, right. I remember now,” said Spade. “And when we catch him in the net, we let the robot
go.”
“Right. Now shut up. Here he comes.” The two stepped as far back into the shadowy ledge at the
side of the rock as they could, and waited with a finger on the trigger that would raise the net they had
rigged up under water.
Cosmo rounded the bend close to the rock; he wanted to be clear of it as quickly as possible.
He hardly saw it coming, and by the time he moved to avoid it, it was too late. He barely had time
to hit the brakes before he went crashing into the net, unconscious. Diamond let go his own trigger,
which sent the automatic, pre-programmed dummy PWC off and out the other side of the rock. The two then
hauled Cosmo and his craft into the miniature sub that had been waiting for them under the surface, and
headed back to Blackjack’s casino.
* * * * * * * * * * *
The crowd was cheering and clapping. Ace glanced over his shoulder as he started to turn up and
around. He wanted to make sure Cosmo was safe. Once he saw his PWC clear the edge of the boulder, he
felt a wave of relief.
“Looking good, Ace,” said Cosmo over the radio.
“Thanks Cosmo. Just be careful of the rest of those rocks. The Bay’s full of...”
“Oh no! I can’t stop! Cooper!” Cosmo yelled, but it was too late. Ace watched helplessly as the
craft crashed at top speed into another huge rock, exploding in a ball of flame.
“Cosmo!”
Chapter Three
“I’m sorry Ace, but there doesn’t seem to be anything left after the explosion.” Vega and Ace were
standing at the edge of a police boat looking at the spot where the PWC impacted on the rocks.
Ace’s last hopes vanished. He had hoped that there might have been a chance that Cosmo had
survived, but evidently, that had not been possible.
“Thanks Vega. I’m sorry, too.” Ace was still in a bit of shock, and right now, he felt totally drained.
“If you need me, I’ll be in the Magic Express.” Without another word, he turned and climbed into the smaller
boat that was docked with the police cruiser. As Ace sat down, the driver took off for the nearest dock.
* * * * * * * * * * *
“Hey, wake up!” Cosmo stirred slightly. He recognized that annoying, weaselly voice.
“Diamond?” he managed to croak.
“The one and only. You took a nasty hit on the head. I wasn’t sure if you’d ever wake up.”
Cosmo’s head was slowly clearing. “What?” he said dazedly. “Oh, I remember.” He suddenly
recalled just barely seeing the net, and now he was here. And where exactly was here?
“Now that you’re awake, I’m going to get something to eat.” He turned to leave. “Oh,” he said,
looking back over his shoulder, “I wouldn’t try escaping, you’d just be wasting your strength.” Diamond left,
laughing to himself.
A few minutes later, Cosmo realized that Diamond was right. He was tied to a chair, hands behind
back, in the middle of a featureless room. “Man, Ace. I hope you know what’s going on.”
* * * * * * * * * * *
Ace dropped heavily into a chair as soon as he got home. He placed his staff on the end table
beside him and told Angel that he didn’t want to be bothered. No calls. No visitors. Just silence.
Cosmo gone? No. He didn’t believe it. But he had seen the explosion with his own eyes. His
friend was gone, and he had to accept that.
It was two days before he came out of the Express. He had an announcement to make, so he
called the media. They showed up, but didn’t quite seem their annoying selves. Even Paparazzo was more
reserved then normal.
“Ladies and gentlemen. Ace Cooper has called the attention of the media, and now we wait to hear
his comments.”
All cameras were trained on Ace, everyone was silent.
“First of all,” Ace began, “I want to thank all my fans. Without them, I could never have achieved
what I have.” He paused for a moment, then continued. “In light of this recent event, and after many hours
of thinking, I have decided to retire from magic. I thank you for your attention.”
No one said anything as Ace stepped away from the microphones and back into the Magic Express.
* * * * * * * * * * *
“Wakey, wakey.” Cosmo came sharply awake when someone shook his shoulders.
“Huh?” he said.
“How very intelligent,” replied Diamond sarcastically. “The boss wants to show you something,” he
replied.
The door behind him opened and in hovered Blackjack with a TV monitor.
“Listen Jack,” said Cosmo, trying to wriggle his way free, “You had better let me go, or else Ace
will...”
“Ace won’t be doing anything,” replied Blackjack confidently.
“What do you mean?” asked Cosmo.
“Just shut up and watch,” he replied as he turned on the monitor.
It was a news cast with Papzirotto reporting.
“As everyone knows, the recent death of Ace Cooper’s assistant, Cosmo...”
“What?!” said Cosmo, growing more and more confused as he watched a replay of his “accident”
while Duc narrated. “Has left the famous magician in shock,” continued the broadcast. “Now, we hear from
Cooper himself.”
As the monitor played the announcement Ace had made, Cosmo’s hopes of being rescued faded.
“He thinks I’m dead?” he asked no one in particular, staring at the floor. Suddenly he shot a
glaring look at Blackjack. “And I bet you’re the one behind it.”
“You’re not as dumb as you look,” he replied as he turned to leave. “And in case you were
wondering, now that there’s no Magician, there’s no one to stop me!” he said.
“You won’t get away with this, Jack!” Cosmo yelled at his back.
