Saviours of the World
 
 
Douglas crawled through the entrance to the den, rain streaming down his face.
                ‘Don’t think it’s ever going to stop.’ he said regarding the patches of mud on his knees gloomily.   Fishing out a handkerchief he proceeded to widen the circles of mud.
                 A solid wall of silence greeted his prophecy and he looked around.
                ‘I say, what’s up?’ he said
                ‘Uurrm’ grunted Ginger in a far-away tone of voice. 
                ‘I said the rain is never going to stop,’ persisted Douglas.  He was puzzled. Normally, his statement would cause a storm of comment, each of the Outlaws holding a different opinion on whether the planet was doomed.
                Henry sighed.  ‘Oh, do shut up.   Here – have one of these.  ‘Ethel’s latest boyfriend is a publisher.’  He shoved a gaudily coloured magazine in Douglas’s direction.
                ‘A Marvel,’ breathed Douglas ‘gosh,’
 William got up and started to stride around the den, which was a bit difficult because it was so tiny.  As he strode, he made strange swishing movements with his arms; all the other Outlaws knew exactly what he was doing, he was swirling his imaginary cape.   As he did, his eyes sparkled and his face flushed.  
                ‘By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth, I shall defeat her,’ he intoned.  ‘I shall defeat the Black Widow, the she-devil who goes by the name of Natalia Allanovna Romanova.’
                Ginger jumped up and waved his arms wildly.
                ‘And I, Captain Marvel will defeat her also.’
                ‘You can’t be Captain Marvel.    Captain Marvel’s a girl.’
                ‘A girl.’   Ginger stopped and made a retching sound.  ‘Are you sure?’
                ‘Quite sure.’
                ‘Oh Lord.  I hate girls.’
                ‘And me,’ said William.  ‘Although Ethel’s not bad when she’s in a good mood.  After all, she did give us these comics.’
                ‘Yeah.  Ethel’s all right.’   Henry agreed, his eyes misty.  Secretly, he had a pash on Ethel but  would have cut off his right foot rather than admit it.
                ‘All other girls are awful….take Violet Elizabeth Bott…
                ‘No, you take her,’  interrupted Douglas and all the Outlaws, with the exception of William, fell about laughing.
                ‘Shut up, you lot,’  said William sternly.  ‘I’ve got an idea.’
                The other Outlaws looked at him with a certain amount of trepidation.   William’s ideas usually got them into a whole lot of trouble.
                ‘Well, you know my father’s always moaning about the government and Robert’s always moaning about having no money and Ethel is always moaning about her boyfriends…..well, I think the world needs sorting out.’
                ‘But, what can we do about it?’
                ‘We can be the new superheroes.  Ones nobody’s  heard of yet.  For instance, I could be Swoopman and swoop into the Prime Minister’s house and hold him to ransom until he agrees to cut Taxes.’
                ‘Swoop?’ said Henry, ‘can you swoop?’
                ‘Not yet, but I can learn – can’t be that difficult.   Anyway you, Henry. can be Glassman and put on your cloak of invisibility, break into the bank and get lots of money to give to Robert.   A thousand at least, enough for him to buy a house of his own.’   Now it was William’s turn to be misty-eyed, the idea of a home without Robert seemed very good indeed.
                ‘But, I haven’t got a cloak of invisibility.’
                ‘Well, you can get one, can’t you.  They must be on sale somewhere.  On the internet maybe.  Oh cripes.   Sorry, forgot the internet hasn’t been invented yet’. 
‘Sounds like stealing to me.’
‘No, we’re only going to borrow it.  They do that with houses, you know.  Anyway, you Ginger, could be the Masked Persuader.  You could creep into the houses of Ethel’s boyfriend, whisper in his ear and persuade him that Ethel is the one he truly loves.’   A house sans Ethel also seemed very good to William.
                ‘Seems to me,’ said Henry.   ‘That its only your family we’re doing things for.’
                ‘Only while we’re learning.   When we’re good at it, we can do the whole country.   Maybe the world.’
                ‘But what about me?’  said Douglas in a whiny sort of way.   ‘You haven’t given me a job.’
                William thought.   He thought very hard indeed.  Then he caught sight of an image on a discarded Marvel comic.   His heart fluttered and he felt a blush warming his cheeks.   Quickly, he turned away.
                After a while he turned and faced the group.   His face was a mask.
                ‘You’, he repeated.  ‘Because you are a bit girly,’ he carried on despite Douglas’s squeak of outrage, ‘can be The Black Widow – Natalia Allanovna Romanova – and don’t grizzle’, he said sternly, ‘because she is the most fearsome of all.’
                The Outlaws fell silent, then started giggling and nudging each other.   William Brown was transformed.   He was glowing inside so much that it was obvious to all of them.    William Brown was in love.