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Chapter 4

The Morning after

Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz

Homer moaned, but still he did not want to wake up, he was enjoying this dream too much. He didn't want to wake up from it. He'd drunk so much, he'd ate so much, and he finally got back at Patty and Selma. This was the perfect dream for him, but the infernal buzzing wouldn't simply let him lie in his slumber. That it wouldn't stop unless he woke up and shut it off. His head lay on the soft pillow of his bed...

Why wouldn't that stupid alarm take a hint and stop?! Seeing no alternative he let himself wake up roll over onto his front and lazily reach to turn it off. Click! and it was off. He let his hand drop to the floor.

Homer rolled over again so he lay on his back and for the first time felt what was probably the mother of all hangovers. He opened his eyes, but shut them quickly. The morning was too bright and it made the pain in his head all the worse. There was also a pain in his stomach that woke him up more effectively then any buzzing clock. He dropped something he was lazily holding in his right hand and heard it clatter to the floor. He didn't care what it was as another bout of pain went through his bowls. He needed to use a toilet, any toilet quickly. He pushed himself off his bed and moved quickly into the bedrooms' bath room and sat down on a toilet and prepared to evacuate.

BANG, BANG, BANG! Came the sound of gun shots.

"AH! Assassination!" He screamed flattening himself to the floor in case the shots hit him. He listened intently for the 'would be assassin', but all he could hear was a draining sound… that was coming from the toilet bowl.

"What the...?" he said standing up, forgetting his previous thought of an armed assassin trying to kill him. He moved towards the toilet bowl and looked inside, there was now a massive hole in the bottom of the toilet which was leaking water all the way down into the TV area. There were also several tiny holes in the floor of that room; and there was Maggie looking up at Homer through the hole. Her pacifier dropped from her mouth in astonishment.

"HOMER! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?" Came Marge's voice from down stairs.

"He's had a monster crap!" Came a voice that could only be Bart. "I hate to think what his farts do!"

"Why you little!" Homer said anger rising in his voice, thankfully for Bart though Homer was up stairs, so he couldn't reach down and strangle the life out of him.

What had just happened? His backside had gone off like a cannon. He reached up and rubbed his combed over head. He remembered swallowing several bullets the police fired at him in his dream, but that was a dream, wasn't it? Maybe he was still dreaming? That was perfect! He could help Leonardo Dicaprio escape the end of Inception.

Wait! If this was a dream then he was the master of this world, which means the pillows will be made of marshmallows!

"Hmmm Marshmallows aggghhhhh." He willed the pillows to be marshmallows and without stopping to think he grabbed his pillow and took a bite out of it while simultaneously drooling all over them. This was a funny tasting marshmallow, he decided, it wasn't tasty and it wasn't sweet, it tasted like it had plenty of starch though. He ripped a large chunk out of it off and feathers erupted from the hole. Wait a minute! Marshmallows don't have feathers.

He spat out the cloth and feathers he already had in his mouth out. Okay he was actually awake, he was sure of it now because if this was a dream the marshmallow would be full of fried chicken, not feathers.

But that didn't explain how he had just fired several bullets from his backside. Maybe he was a super hero? Maybe all those years working in the nuclear plant had given him super powers? Maybe he…?

He held his head as all that thinking made his painful hangover register all the more. What did he do last night? The pain in his stomach was overshadowed by the pain in his head now. He knew he would one day kill his brain with beer, but if this is what he had now have to endure, if he was brain dead he'd rather have it back.

His stomach ached so much he wished the bottom would fall out of it. That would be useful when it came to dinner time. He thought, but after a few moments the bottom did fall out of his stomach, but not for the reasons he was thinking of. He'd just remembered something, and it wasn't good. He'd missed Bart's party, that's what he'd done. He never showed up! After getting Barts present he just went to Moes instead. He had gotten Bart a present though, that should count for something. But where did he leave it?

More questions started flooding his mind, but he pushed them all to the back of his head. Finding that present was paramount to him right now. He brought up the sheets of the bed, looked under the pillows, under the bed. He even checked a box of chocolates he'd bought Marge. It wasn't there, but there were several chocolates that Marge didn't want because she was on that diet thing. Just thinking the word 'diet' made him cringe. Well, since she didn't want them why waste them? So he ate them for her. It was the gentlemanly thing to do after all.

He took a step forward as he enjoyed the 'chocolaty taste' of chocolate when he stood on something that was hard and wooden. Looking down he saw what he was looking for on the floor, laying there at his side of the bed. The Mask.

He bent down and picked it up. His thoughts suddenly went back to that wonderful dream he had last night. The dream was perfect. It had all started with a giant marshmallow in his car and ended with a massive drink from the back of a Duff truck followed by revenge on Patty and Selma. He should have more dreams like that, he decided. But wait? After leaving Moes' how did he get home? A question he always asked himself after he came back from Moes' but not one he usually bothered answering. After all, 'if he couldn't control himself then it's not illegal.' Which was his life slogan.

"Homer!" Came Marge's voice. It sounded like she was going to nag him about something, and he knew exactly what it would be about. She came into the bedroom to confront him.

"Homer!" She repeated. "Where were you last night? and what the heck happened to your car?" She indicated through a window.

"Huh?" car? What was wrong with his car? He looked outside and saw just the mangled wreck of metal outside. Was that his car? It was in the drive at least, but it was battered, more battered then usual. Its entire front had caved in as if it had hit something. He suddenly remembered he had been drinking so if he was drinking he was probably driving which means…

Oh boy! Marge wouldn't be happy about that. He'd missed Bart's party because he went to Moes'. He didn't get him that Radiothingy, and to top it all off he'd crashed his car. Marge would never understand, she was a woman and he was a guy, women were not meant to understand guy things anymore then he could understand why women check their makeup in every mirror they pass at a party. He had only once choice, he'd have to lie.

"I don't know." He said trying to sound innocent, he paused trying to think fast, he knew just saying that wouldn't cut it. "It always looked like that."

Marge fixed him with an annoyed stare and made that slight moan she makes when she's suspicious. It was a sure sign she wasn't buying his story. Either that or she wanted a mirror to check her make up. But he opted for the former, "and where were you last night?" she asked.

"Oh, what's the use?" Homer broke down and sat on the bed. "I never got Bart that Radiohead thing he wanted, I went to every toy shop in Springfield looking for one and even went outside town looking for it." The last part was a lie, but she'd kill him if she ever found out he'd been drinking. He looked up and could see the sorrow look in her eyes. She was falling for it.

"Oh Homie." She smiled "I knew you'd forget to get Bart his present, so I bought him it weeks earlier."

"Huh?" Homer said, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I did! Seven times, but you jumped in your car and drove away to get it."

This wasn't the first time he hadn't heard what Marge had said. In fact, almost every time he never heard what Marge said.

"But what happened to your car?" She asked again, a little less annoyed this time.

Homer tried to think quickly, how could he explain the damage to his car? Thankfully the question passed as her attention turned to what was in his hands.

"And what is that?" She asked eyeing the mask he found as if it was some mutant squirrel with two heads. Homer breathed a mental sigh of relief that the conversation had moved on.

"I got this to replace the Radiothingy." Homer said, holding up in front of her the grubby looking mask. Marge didn't look impressed at all. "What makes you think Bart would want that?"

"Look at it Marge!" Homer said, getting up to stand next to Marge one arm over her shoulders, the other holding the Mask at arms length away and facing them. "It looks like Bart!"

"Oh, I see" Marge said, "but it's just a piece of junk, I don't think he'd want this."

"Don't think I'd want what?" Asked the eleven year old coming into their bedroom, probably to see what the commotion was about.

"Your fathers bought you another present." Marge said as Homer showed him the wooden mask. He hoped he like it, he'd better for $75.

"WOOh! Cool!" Said Bart snatching it away almost immediately. "I need something like this for tonight when…" he stopped himself before he could go further, as if he was about to blurt out his plans to the enemy. "When I decide to stay in and watch cartoons." That was the worst excuse he had ever come up with and Marge was eyeing him suspiciously. "Thanks dad." Bart said, giving his old man a hug before racing off back to his bed room. Homer knew the hug was just a scam to stop them being suspicious about what Bart was going to do tonight… and it worked.

"Junk? Eh Marge." Homer said smugly. "I should get him junk for all his presents, it'll make Christmas really cheap"

Bart knew Homer forgot to buy him that Radioactive Man action set. It was a dead give away, because when he got it and looked at the label the writing was actually neat, it wasn't in Homer's childish scrawls. But Bart didn't care, he got what he wanted, and more. He actually thought this mask itself was just a piece of crap, but he was planning on a night of pranking and this mask would hide his face perfectly.

Not looking where he was going Bart walked right into Lisa coming out of the bathroom, causing them both to fall into a tangled mess on the floor, and Bart dropped his new mask.

"Bart! Watch where you're going!" She said, pushing Bart off her. She straightening herself up and brushing herself down. Bart got up as well and reached for his new possession when it was snatched off the ground by Lisa.

"What's this?" She asked, looking at it curiously, no doubt wondering what Bart was doing with this thing.

"That's mine!" Bart insisted trying to snatch it from her, but she moved it out of his reach.

"Where did you get it?" She asked looking suspicious, not convinced Bart owned such an old looking object.

"Dad got it for me!" Bart said still trying to get his mask.

Lisa looked back at the Mask. Why did she always have to ruin everything for him? What did he ever do to her? Apart from the headless Malibu Stacy dolls, and the plastic spider down her dress. She had to just ruin his fun.

He reached out and managed to snatch it from her fingers as she tried to examine it.

"Bart, it looks like an artefact, it belongs in a museum!" Lisa said putting her hands on her hips.

"Don't museums get enough crap these days?" He said, walking past her into his room and slamming the door in her face.

Stupid Lisa, she always has to poke her nose in other peoples business. He'll come up with a prank to pull on her to do with that nosy nose of hers. But first he had to set up the plans for the pranks tonight. He and Milhouse were going to go and pull some on Skinner, the principle of their school, who was a complete dweeb. He always gave Bart detentions for standing around and doing nothing, except maybe spray painting the words "Stinker!" into a wall next to a drawing of Skinners face. Or placing a pin tac on the seat of a teacher, or use the School intercom to trick Rod and Tod –the children of their religious neighbour Flanders- into thinking god was speaking to them and make them to do all sorts of crazy stuff.

Actually wait, he hasn't done that last one yet, but it was a good one. He added it to the list of pranks to pull in the future.

It was now the afternoon and Lisa had spent the last few hours looking up if any masks had been stolen from museums lately. Not that she expected either dad or Bart to have stolen that mask, though she wouldn't put it past either Homer when drunk or Bart when he's sober. However nothing seemed to be coming up about stolen masks in her search, not even a museum break in. Maybe dad did legitimately buy Bart that mask. Why was she even doing this? It wasn't as if she wanted the stupid thing? Maybe it was just her busybody nature to poke her nose into things that didn't look right.

She was about to close down the internet window to end her search for 'Stolen Mask' when something caught her eye. One of the search results had a picture attached to it, and by the address it linked to the Springfield Tree, a news paper. 'Masked mad man humiliates cops, steals Duff truck and frightens old ladies.'

She would've ignored it completely, but the picture which sat next to it just stared her in the face. It showed a man in a rubber mask and plastic looking hair. It caught her eye because it just looked familiar somehow, as if she'd known that face her whole life but subtle changes to it made it nearly unrecognisable.

She saved the picture to her computer and started the PaintSlop Pro tool and loaded the picture into it. She first started by turning the skin the correct colour. Smoothed out the face, changed the eye colour to black. It was starting to look more human at least, but she still couldn't place it. As she moved the mouse over to smooth out his brow the mouse knocked next to her keyboard making the mouse click the 'remove tool' and she mistakenly removed the hair. She was about to hit 'undo' when she saw someone she recognised in that face. She used the paint brush tool to give the man two strands of hair in a comb over and some more hair around his ears. To finish it off she gave him some stubble of a short beard. This couldn't be right, could it? It must be a coincidence of some sort. There was no way that was who she thought it was.

"Dad?" She said out loud. The masked man looked almost like her father, the only difference being the eyes, which just looked… wrong somehow. Homer's eyes never looked like that, not even when he's angry and ready to strangle the life out of Bart. She went back to the headline and read what the news papers had to say.

'Police are currently seeking the identity of a masked man in his forties. The masked man, who was named by police as 'Green Face' reportedly took down two officers single handed and withstood several bullet shots to his body and head at close range.

When asked what the general public should do about this masked man Chief Wiggum gave this advice. "What I always say, keep all doors locked and a gun loaded and ready, and shoot anyone you don't recognise on your land."

It should be noted that later Wiggum recalled his last statement, asking not to shoot people you don't know in the street as it is extremely dangerous, and asked it be left to the professionals.

'Green Face' then went on to attack a stolen truck of Duff beer. Stolen by none other then local felon Snake, who was later apprehended. The police let Snake off with a warning not to steal Duff trucks full of empty bottles again, unless he asked permission first.

'That guy is 'so' gonna pay.' Were the words of Snake before he robbed this journalist of his camera and ten dollars.

Green Face was also reported to have attacked a couple of elderly ladies. Patty and Selma Bouvier, in their apartment. Though the truth of these claims have yet to be substantiated.

Lisa stopped reading there. In some ways this sounded like her dad. The stolen Duff beer, attacking Patty and Selma. But Homer had always restrained himself from steeling stuff and hurting Patty and Selma, even when drunk. Besides, if he had drank an entire truck full of Duff beer he'd die of alcohol poisoning. Yet the similarities between 'Green Face' and Homer were uncanny.

Location: Springfield Family Home

Date: Sunday

Time: 8:15pm

Were the words going through Bart's head as he prepared for his night of pranks. On his bed he had a collection of things such as fire crackers, toilet paper, a flash light, –because it was dark outside,- a bag full of Santa's Little Helpers dog poop, -a little old hat he knew, but this was going to lead into something bigger-. He also had a tube of superglue. All of which he began packing into a backpack while in the semi-darkness of his room.

His plan was set the bag of dog poop on fire outside Skinners house. Skinner would come out and try to stamp on it to stop the fire spreading. Not only will this foot smell of dog poop, but what he wouldn't know is his other foot will be stood in super glue, which will glue him to the spot. Bart will also put glue on the rails of Skinners porch, because he'll probably try to grab on to help lift his shoe off. He'd then be a sitting target for their spit balls, which is what the toilet paper was for. This was gonna be so great.

A crackling noise came over his Krusty the Clown walkie-talkie –aka the top secret Krusty-talkie- as his partner in crime Milhouse made contact.

"Bart, I don't know if my parents will like me being up this late again, especially after what happened the last time."

Oh, ay caramba! Milhouse was his best friend, but he could act like such a dork at times. He picked up the walkie-talkie and talked to him as he began changing his clothes to something more suitable.

"Milhouse, if your parents told you to jump off a cliff would you do it?" He asked, as he began pulling on clothes similar to his last ones, only they were green patchy like the combat clothes in the army.

"I suppose I would, yes." Came Milhouses lame reply. "But with my asthma I don't think I'll be able to make it up the mountain in the first place."

With his new camouflage disguise on Bart was about to speak again when he heard a noise outside. Someone was coming! He ducked down behind the bed waiting for whoever it was to pass.

"Bart, you still there?" Shut up Milhouse! Bart wanted to say but couldn't risk giving away his position to the enemy.

Bart saw from under his bed a crack of light from the hall. A shadow passed over it as someone walked up to the door then walked straight past. He breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't matter if he got caught anyway, it's not as if grounding him would stop him.

"Milhouse!" He whispered into the walkie-talkie. "Keep your voice down, don't give your position away to the enemy."

"Umm? Okay?" Milhouse sounded unsure about something, but Bart wasn't about to ask what it was.

"Don't worry, Milhouse." Said Bart, "just sneak out, get to Skinners and I'll be there in a sec, okay!" Before Milhouse could say anymore he quickly said. "Special Agent Double Oh Bart, out!"

He flipped the switch which turned the Krusty-talkie off, and he loaded his backpack with anything else he needed. At the last minute he picked up a super soaker full of cat pee. No point wasting an opportunity like this. He thought.

He took out his flashlight and flipped it on. It worked perfectly. Only one thing left to do before going on this mission. He walked over to a draw and rummaged around until he found what he wanted. Two elastic bands which he will use to strap the final part of his disguise to his face.

He picked up the Mask. Bart had tried in vain to drill holes into the stupid thing, but the drill he borrowed from Homer didn't even scratch it. Whatever it was made of it, it was something incredibly tough.

Still holding the elastic bands in his right hand, he lifted the Mask to his face. It was just about to make contact with his skin when suddenly…

"E-yow!" He yelped as his face skin felt like it was being sucked up and pulled on as if by a vacuum cleaner. The Mask -which was pretty solid- began bending inwards towards his face somehow! He immediately pulled the thing away from his face, which came off with a feeling of duct tape coming off skin.

That was weird! He thought as he looked into the back of the Mask. It felt like it was actually trying to attach itself to his skin! It didn't tear his face off at least, and he couldn't see any flakes of skin in there. His hands which held the Mask suddenly started to feel as if they were tingling, like when you fall asleep on your arm and wake up with them numb and tingling as the feeling starts to return to it, it was sort of like that.

Then the Mask lit up as a strange green and purple light passed over the inside of it from left to right. His eyes slowly went wide. He couldn't help himself as he brought the Mask closer to his face. Closer, closer... and closer... his nose made contact, then he pressed it firmly to his face.

Bart snapped back to his senses immediately. His hands fell, but the Mask remained attached. Bart reached up again and felt the Mask.

It was twisting and distorting its shape as if it was alive. He reached up to pull this thing off, but when he felt for where the edges should have been all he felt was more wriggling wood which slowly started to gain the texture of rubber. He reached further back behind his head looking for the edges. He found them, but they weren't staying still, they were stretching around the back of his head like the thing was growing and encasing him!

He grasped the edges with the tips of his fingers and tried to pull it off. He lost his grip and let go, the thing continued to stretch until it reached the back of his head where he felt the edges join together. He tried to dig his nails into the stupid thing, tried to grab onto it and make it come off. But it wouldn't come off! Was this thing going to suffocate him?

In desperation he shouted for help. "HELP" he cried. He didn't care if he was caught now. He didn't want to die because of a stupid mask. "HELP! SOMEONE HELP, GET THIS STUPID THING OFF ME!"

Just outside, Lisa heard her brothers cries for help. She dashed over to the door and gently opened it and stood back, half expecting this to be another one of Bart's stupid pranks. But nothing came, no water from above, no falling plastic spiders, nothing. Confident that if there was a prank then it wasn't in the door she pushed it further open until she could see Bart by his bed. He was holding the back of his head trying to scratch at some stupid green ball he had around it.

"Bart, what is it?" She asked, half sceptically, suspecting nothing was actually wrong and it was the lead to some prank. But still, there was worry in her voice.

Bart twisted around to face her and Lisa almost screamed. The green ball around his head looked like that old mask he'd gotten this morning, only it had wrapped completely around his head encasing it, and the thing was wriggling around as if it were alive! Bart was screaming for her to help him, his worried eyes just under the eye holes of the Mask.

Lisa began to approach when the wood grain of the mask began to light up in an eerie green, and bright green beams shot from it with a crackling noise like those that come from a welding torch.

The entire room lit up with a thunder crack, but it was a clear night outside, where the heck had that come from? It came again and the room lit up even brighter then before. Lisa started to back away when she saw Bart's skeleton through his body as another even louder thunder clap came. The sounds of thunder were coming from Bart!

What the hell was happening? His form was starting to glow and spark.

His body writhed one way, twisting him clockwise. He stopped for a second resisting the rotation, which he didn't appear to be doing voluntarily. But then he was taken completely by surprise when he was made to writhed the other way, but this time he couldn't stop nor slow down as he spun around, going faster and faster!

Lisa stood back watching in half fascination, half fear as Bart continued spinning so fast on his feet that he looked like a miniature tornado. Cries for help came from it, but were muffled as the air around him also rotated, causing a great gust of wind in all directions. The mini twister began moving around the room with incredible speed. It circled the bed and leapt over it causing the entire room to shake when it landed. It then proceeded to slam into the wall, causing Bart's toys and possessions to fall off the shelves above. The twister then began climbing up the wall as the tail of the twister made contact with the skirting board. He was on the ceiling now, upside down showing no sign of stopping or falling before reaching the other side of the room and he quickly spun down the other side, landing on the ground causing the entire room to shake again.

What the hell was going on here? Were the only words Lisa could think of, because not even her scientific brain could understand nor make sense of the faulty physics she was witnessing.

A loud screeching noise came out of nowhere which sounded like a brake being applied to a car, and the twister stopped so rapidly that any normal person would've fallen to the floor. But the figure which now stood where her brother had been not long ago didn't look much like a normal person at all. Nor did it look like her brother.

His clothes were different, he was wearing a white T-shirt with army pants and jacket which usually had the arm camoflage pattern on it, but in shades of red rather than green. His head was covered in a green, rubber mask which extended behind his head; and his spiky hair, which was originally spiked up, had become longer, jet black, and with many more points which now pointed in every which way making it look like a court jester's hat.

The creatures eyes snapped open, and Lisa jumped back. The eyes were larger then they should be! Almost twice as big, Lisa guessed; and its irises were a deep shade of crimson. His eyebrows lowered making the eyes looked halfway between evilness and just madness.

It then smiled, showing a row of bright white, perfect teeth. Perfect in every way apart from the size, they were much too big for his jaw, and could in fact probably set the world record for the larges set of teeth in the world.

"Bart?" Lisa asked trying to understand the transformation she had just witnessed her brother go through. "Is that you?"

The green boy straightened himself up. Bart didn't attempt to check his appearance, nor try to remove the green mask from his head like before. He was acting as if this were completely normal.

"Never better." He said. It was Bart's voice, only there was a slight echo and distortion, as if he were speaking through a voice modulator. But he didn't have one, so how was he making his voice sound so unearthly?

Suddenly, Bart was in her face; literally, one minute he was at one side of the room, the next he was right in front of her. "What are you doing in my room?" He asked, his voice sounded particularly hostile. Startled, Lisa fell backwards onto the floor and quickly backed away on all fours, not taking her eyes off Bart.

Lisa couldn't understand how he'd moved so quickly that she hadn't even seen it. The only time Bart was anywhere near that quick was when he was passing the art museum.

She crawled backwards, leaving his room and reaching the far wall in the hall she pressed herself into it. Fear and confusion on her face.

"What happened?" She asked, as Bart sped out of the bedroom and stopped rapidly. The door shut right behind him, which was odd because the door closed by itself once he passed through it, he didn't grab it or anything.

"I've got a new groove!" He said. Walking away Lisa noticed his movements were not like Barts at all, they were smoother, almost dance like. This was never Bart, yet it looked too much like… wait a minute! He looked a little like 'Green Face' from that news article she'd read a few hours ago. There were differences of course, 'Green Face' looked more like Homer.

What was Bart doing trying to copycat it?

His 'transformation,' if it was genuine, started with that green Mask, Lisa decided. So she reached forward, grabbed it and tried to pull it off. This must be a trick. She told herself. But when she pulled on the mask she had to stop. This was impossible! She was astonished when she pulled on the mask and Barts eye sockets moved out of position with the stretching rubber. The skin of his nose also shifted off the gristle base it should cover, and other things had moved around too that were too gruesome to even describe.

"Hey, get off my face!" Said Bart's mouth, which was now where his cheek should be. Alarmed, Lisa yelped and let go of the Mask, which snapped back into place. When Bart turned to look at her she just managed to stop herself screaming.

His face hadn't gone back to the way it should. It was completely wrong! One of his eyes was where his ear should be, while the other eye was in his mouth, the location of his mouth was now on his left cheek, rather then being in front of his jaw. His empty eye socket was at the top of his head and his nose was in the right place, but upside down; and his ears, in fact that was a point. The ears were the only thing Lisa couldn't see even before she distorted his face.

"Moms always say, 'if you play with your face it'll stay that way.'" He laughed. He reached up and quickly and physically pushed and pulled each facial feature back into its original position. When he was finished Lisa noted that the ears actually were absence from the face.

Suddenly he was gone again, with a whoosh and a gust of air which ruffled Lisa's hair. Bart raced into the bathroom.

Lisa followed, watching Bart with a strange mixture of scientific curiosity and amazement. He was standing on the toilet seat looking at his face, making minor adjustments to his appearance. Reaching up with his left hand he pulled at his nose, which stretched so far he could fit a football inside each nostril. A pair of scissors somehow appeared in his other hand and he trimmed his nose hairs, which bushed out of each nostril like a massive pair of hair balls. The speed at which he trimmed them was also much faster. Bart let go of his nose and it all fell back into place perfectly.

Bart was behaving, and acting just like a cartoon character! And it was real?! How?!

Looking back in the mirror Bart showed his big, white teeth and he wiggled his lower jaw from side to side to get a good look at them. Then he turned his attention to his big red eyes.

"Whoa!" He said. "Way cool!"

He turned and saw Lisa in the room with him.

"Hey!" He screamed as his distorted voice suddenly became high pitched. "Can't a guy get some privacy around here!"

"Did that mask do this to you?" Lisa asked. It was a theory, but before the twirling transformation that green thing on his face looked like that Mask Bart had gotten this morning. The one Homer bought him the night before. An idea began forming in Lisa's head.

"You betcha!" Said Bart, his voice back to normal, or as normal as it could be. He leapt off the toilet seat, onto the floor and walked straight past her back into the corridor.

It was the Mask! Somehow that mask changed him into 'this.' That means 'Green Face' probably was her dad! He just doesn't realise it! Now Bart had that mask and he was now Green Face too! Lisa decided to follow Bart, because if that Mask made him capable of moving really fast and allowing him to distort his body like a cartoon character, what else would it allow him to do?

She noted Bart wasn't acting himself either. In fact, no that's not right. Bart was acting 'more' like himself then normal, like he had been dialled up to eleven. With the addition that he took all these strange things in his stride as if they were completely normal. How? How could he not recognise the strangeness of what he was able to do? Then again, before this transformation Bart acted like he couldn't see what was wrong with blowing his nose and showing it to people for a laugh.

Lisa decided for the good of everyone in Springfield she had to get that thing off Bart, and fast before he does some serious damage. Knowing Bart, that wouldn't be long. Looking at the back of his head just under his wild hair she could see a sort of ridge where the two halves of the Mask joined together. If she could get her fingers around it maybe she could pull it off him.

It was worth a try, she thought as she snuck up behind her brother and quickly dug her nails into the back of the mask. Bart yelped and reached back to try to get her off him, but she wasn't going to give up easily. His hands wrapped around her wrists and squeezed tightly trying to force her to let go, but she remained hanging onto the Mask as tight as she could.

The edges of the Mask were coming away! The two halves of the ridge were separating and a green glow came from underneath, along with the sight of Barts blond hair! Lisa began parting the two halves when Bart suddenly let go of her wrists and his hands disappeared somewhere behind her. She then felt a pain from her backside which made her lose her grip on the menace of a mask. Suddenly everything went dark as something fell over her eyes and jammed under her chin leaving her blind. Whatever it was it began pulling her head backwards so much she had to arch her back.

"WEDGIE!" Bart screamed laughing light a real loony. Lisa pulled and slid her own undergarment off her face. Bart was laughing, but then suddenly his face turned to a more serious tone before saying, "DO - NOT – TOUCH – THE – FACE!" in a deep voice which didn't sound like his.

Element of surprised lost she reached forward to rip the mask off Bart's face. But he leapt into the air at twice his normal height making Lisa miss. He landed behind her and shot off faster then she could keep up and ran into his bedroom. Lisa followed and the door behind her slammed shut of its own accord. Bart was bouncing around the room from wall to wall to ceiling and floor as if he were made of rubber. He then began running along the walls very fast with no sign of feeling the effects of gravity. Her eyes could keep up with him but there was no way she'd be able to catch him.

He leapt off the wall, somersaulted in the air, he landed on his bed and leapt back up and out the closed window, which smashed as he passed through it leaving a Bart shaped hole in the fractured glass.

Lisa heard an audible snatch and stretching noise as she went to the window to see where he went. She had to use a chair to get some extra height to see outside and the sight before her just made her laugh.

Bart had jumped out of the bedroom window, but on the way down he'd gotten his head wedged between two thick, sturdy branches from the tree just outside his bedroom. The top half of his head ballooned out under the pressure while the bottom half had stretched towards the ground. His body was on the ground running as fast as it could, its legs rotated so fast they were a whirl of motion, like in a cartoon, but he wasn't going anywhere because of his trapped head.

This was her one chance, Lisa lifted herself up towards the window so she could climb out. She undid the catch on it and slid it upwards. Being careful of the sharp glass which littered parts of the window frame she crawled out grabbing a branch to pull herself up into the tree. Bart had done it thousands of times before so how hard could this be?

On the branch now she slowly crawled her way towards Bart's trapped head and she reached forward about to pull on the ridge which would get the mask off him when... Snap! The branch she was on began to break away. This freed Bart's head and it quickly snapped back to him knocking him to the ground.

The branch broke clean off and Lisa fell towards the ground. She tried to grab onto another branch on the way down, but each one was too flimsy and broke under her weight and the momentum. This might not have stopped her, but it slowed her down enough so she survived the landing on the ground. Dust was kicked up from the floor and entered her eyes. She coughed, waving away the dust and wiping her face until she could see again. Some of the dust had gone into her mouth and she was still coughing.

She could see Bart was still here, the big red eyes looking at her in a form of cruel amusement.

He twisted his left leg over the right and spun around really fast like he did when he was transforming, but when he stopped he wasn't wearing the same clothes. He was dressed in black trousers and a white shirt, in his right hand was a microphone, his face had a small, fake moustache and he raised his empty left hand high into the air at an angle and clenched his left fist. Music suddenly filled the air from no apparent source, it had a thudding beat and Bart tapped his foot in time with the rhythm. As Lisa coughed up more dust Bart sang in a mock singing voice. "Another one bites the dust!" An obvious imitation of Freddy Mercury from the British rock group Queen.

He then twisted his legs around and swung his arms to force himself into another fast spin, only this time he didn't stop. He just went faster and faster, dust was kicked up from where his feet now formed a point making contact with the floor, and the whirling noise also grew in pitch. A great gust of wind blew Lisa's hair around as the whirling, spinning form of Bart began to move. He shot forward through the white fence and passed through it with the noise of a chainsaw and Bart left a hole in the shape of a distorted, inverted triangle as he passed through. The mini twister continued on suddenly, leaping over the next tall fence with ease and disappearing from view.

The whirling noise died down as Bart, whatever he had become, disappeared from sight.

Description
Chapter 4

The Morning after

Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz

Homer moaned, but still he did not want to wake up, he was enjoying this dream too much. He didn't want to wake up from it. He'd drunk so much, he'd ate so much, and he finally got back at Patty and Selma. This was the perfect dream for him, but the infernal buzzing wouldn't simply let him lie in his slumber. That it wouldn't stop unless he woke up and shut it off. His head lay on the soft pillow of his bed...

Why wouldn't that stupid alarm take a hint and stop?! Seeing no alternative he let himself wake up roll over onto his front and lazily reach to turn it off. Click! and it was off. He let his hand drop to the floor.

Homer rolled over again so he lay on his back and for the first time felt what was probably the mother of all hangovers. He opened his eyes, but shut them quickly. The morning was too bright and it made the pain in his head all the worse. There was also a pain in his stomach that woke him up more effectively then any buzzing clock. He dropped something he was lazily holding in his right hand and heard it clatter to the floor. He didn't care what it was as another bout of pain went through his bowls. He needed to use a toilet, any toilet quickly. He pushed himself off his bed and moved quickly into the bedrooms' bath room and sat down on a toilet and prepared to evacuate.

BANG, BANG, BANG! Came the sound of gun shots.

"AH! Assassination!" He screamed flattening himself to the floor in case the shots hit him. He listened intently for the 'would be assassin', but all he could hear was a draining sound… that was coming from the toilet bowl.

"What the...?" he said standing up, forgetting his previous thought of an armed assassin trying to kill him. He moved towards the toilet bowl and looked inside, there was now a massive hole in the bottom of the toilet which was leaking water all the way down into the TV area. There were also several tiny holes in the floor of that room; and there was Maggie looking up at Homer through the hole. Her pacifier dropped from her mouth in astonishment.

"HOMER! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?" Came Marge's voice from down stairs.

"He's had a monster crap!" Came a voice that could only be Bart. "I hate to think what his farts do!"

"Why you little!" Homer said anger rising in his voice, thankfully for Bart though Homer was up stairs, so he couldn't reach down and strangle the life out of him.

What had just happened? His backside had gone off like a cannon. He reached up and rubbed his combed over head. He remembered swallowing several bullets the police fired at him in his dream, but that was a dream, wasn't it? Maybe he was still dreaming? That was perfect! He could help Leonardo Dicaprio escape the end of Inception.

Wait! If this was a dream then he was the master of this world, which means the pillows will be made of marshmallows!

"Hmmm Marshmallows aggghhhhh." He willed the pillows to be marshmallows and without stopping to think he grabbed his pillow and took a bite out of it while simultaneously drooling all over them. This was a funny tasting marshmallow, he decided, it wasn't tasty and it wasn't sweet, it tasted like it had plenty of starch though. He ripped a large chunk out of it off and feathers erupted from the hole. Wait a minute! Marshmallows don't have feathers.

He spat out the cloth and feathers he already had in his mouth out. Okay he was actually awake, he was sure of it now because if this was a dream the marshmallow would be full of fried chicken, not feathers.

But that didn't explain how he had just fired several bullets from his backside. Maybe he was a super hero? Maybe all those years working in the nuclear plant had given him super powers? Maybe he…?

He held his head as all that thinking made his painful hangover register all the more. What did he do last night? The pain in his stomach was overshadowed by the pain in his head now. He knew he would one day kill his brain with beer, but if this is what he had now have to endure, if he was brain dead he'd rather have it back.

His stomach ached so much he wished the bottom would fall out of it. That would be useful when it came to dinner time. He thought, but after a few moments the bottom did fall out of his stomach, but not for the reasons he was thinking of. He'd just remembered something, and it wasn't good. He'd missed Bart's party, that's what he'd done. He never showed up! After getting Barts present he just went to Moes instead. He had gotten Bart a present though, that should count for something. But where did he leave it?

More questions started flooding his mind, but he pushed them all to the back of his head. Finding that present was paramount to him right now. He brought up the sheets of the bed, looked under the pillows, under the bed. He even checked a box of chocolates he'd bought Marge. It wasn't there, but there were several chocolates that Marge didn't want because she was on that diet thing. Just thinking the word 'diet' made him cringe. Well, since she didn't want them why waste them? So he ate them for her. It was the gentlemanly thing to do after all.

He took a step forward as he enjoyed the 'chocolaty taste' of chocolate when he stood on something that was hard and wooden. Looking down he saw what he was looking for on the floor, laying there at his side of the bed. The Mask.

He bent down and picked it up. His thoughts suddenly went back to that wonderful dream he had last night. The dream was perfect. It had all started with a giant marshmallow in his car and ended with a massive drink from the back of a Duff truck followed by revenge on Patty and Selma. He should have more dreams like that, he decided. But wait? After leaving Moes' how did he get home? A question he always asked himself after he came back from Moes' but not one he usually bothered answering. After all, 'if he couldn't control himself then it's not illegal.' Which was his life slogan.

"Homer!" Came Marge's voice. It sounded like she was going to nag him about something, and he knew exactly what it would be about. She came into the bedroom to confront him.

"Homer!" She repeated. "Where were you last night? and what the heck happened to your car?" She indicated through a window.

"Huh?" car? What was wrong with his car? He looked outside and saw just the mangled wreck of metal outside. Was that his car? It was in the drive at least, but it was battered, more battered then usual. Its entire front had caved in as if it had hit something. He suddenly remembered he had been drinking so if he was drinking he was probably driving which means…

Oh boy! Marge wouldn't be happy about that. He'd missed Bart's party because he went to Moes'. He didn't get him that Radiothingy, and to top it all off he'd crashed his car. Marge would never understand, she was a woman and he was a guy, women were not meant to understand guy things anymore then he could understand why women check their makeup in every mirror they pass at a party. He had only once choice, he'd have to lie.

"I don't know." He said trying to sound innocent, he paused trying to think fast, he knew just saying that wouldn't cut it. "It always looked like that."

Marge fixed him with an annoyed stare and made that slight moan she makes when she's suspicious. It was a sure sign she wasn't buying his story. Either that or she wanted a mirror to check her make up. But he opted for the former, "and where were you last night?" she asked.

"Oh, what's the use?" Homer broke down and sat on the bed. "I never got Bart that Radiohead thing he wanted, I went to every toy shop in Springfield looking for one and even went outside town looking for it." The last part was a lie, but she'd kill him if she ever found out he'd been drinking. He looked up and could see the sorrow look in her eyes. She was falling for it.

"Oh Homie." She smiled "I knew you'd forget to get Bart his present, so I bought him it weeks earlier."

"Huh?" Homer said, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I did! Seven times, but you jumped in your car and drove away to get it."

This wasn't the first time he hadn't heard what Marge had said. In fact, almost every time he never heard what Marge said.

"But what happened to your car?" She asked again, a little less annoyed this time.

Homer tried to think quickly, how could he explain the damage to his car? Thankfully the question passed as her attention turned to what was in his hands.

"And what is that?" She asked eyeing the mask he found as if it was some mutant squirrel with two heads. Homer breathed a mental sigh of relief that the conversation had moved on.

"I got this to replace the Radiothingy." Homer said, holding up in front of her the grubby looking mask. Marge didn't look impressed at all. "What makes you think Bart would want that?"

"Look at it Marge!" Homer said, getting up to stand next to Marge one arm over her shoulders, the other holding the Mask at arms length away and facing them. "It looks like Bart!"

"Oh, I see" Marge said, "but it's just a piece of junk, I don't think he'd want this."

"Don't think I'd want what?" Asked the eleven year old coming into their bedroom, probably to see what the commotion was about.

"Your fathers bought you another present." Marge said as Homer showed him the wooden mask. He hoped he like it, he'd better for $75.

"WOOh! Cool!" Said Bart snatching it away almost immediately. "I need something like this for tonight when…" he stopped himself before he could go further, as if he was about to blurt out his plans to the enemy. "When I decide to stay in and watch cartoons." That was the worst excuse he had ever come up with and Marge was eyeing him suspiciously. "Thanks dad." Bart said, giving his old man a hug before racing off back to his bed room. Homer knew the hug was just a scam to stop them being suspicious about what Bart was going to do tonight… and it worked.

"Junk? Eh Marge." Homer said smugly. "I should get him junk for all his presents, it'll make Christmas really cheap"

Bart knew Homer forgot to buy him that Radioactive Man action set. It was a dead give away, because when he got it and looked at the label the writing was actually neat, it wasn't in Homer's childish scrawls. But Bart didn't care, he got what he wanted, and more. He actually thought this mask itself was just a piece of crap, but he was planning on a night of pranking and this mask would hide his face perfectly.

Not looking where he was going Bart walked right into Lisa coming out of the bathroom, causing them both to fall into a tangled mess on the floor, and Bart dropped his new mask.

"Bart! Watch where you're going!" She said, pushing Bart off her. She straightening herself up and brushing herself down. Bart got up as well and reached for his new possession when it was snatched off the ground by Lisa.

"What's this?" She asked, looking at it curiously, no doubt wondering what Bart was doing with this thing.

"That's mine!" Bart insisted trying to snatch it from her, but she moved it out of his reach.

"Where did you get it?" She asked looking suspicious, not convinced Bart owned such an old looking object.

"Dad got it for me!" Bart said still trying to get his mask.

Lisa looked back at the Mask. Why did she always have to ruin everything for him? What did he ever do to her? Apart from the headless Malibu Stacy dolls, and the plastic spider down her dress. She had to just ruin his fun.

He reached out and managed to snatch it from her fingers as she tried to examine it.

"Bart, it looks like an artefact, it belongs in a museum!" Lisa said putting her hands on her hips.

"Don't museums get enough crap these days?" He said, walking past her into his room and slamming the door in her face.

Stupid Lisa, she always has to poke her nose in other peoples business. He'll come up with a prank to pull on her to do with that nosy nose of hers. But first he had to set up the plans for the pranks tonight. He and Milhouse were going to go and pull some on Skinner, the principle of their school, who was a complete dweeb. He always gave Bart detentions for standing around and doing nothing, except maybe spray painting the words "Stinker!" into a wall next to a drawing of Skinners face. Or placing a pin tac on the seat of a teacher, or use the School intercom to trick Rod and Tod –the children of their religious neighbour Flanders- into thinking god was speaking to them and make them to do all sorts of crazy stuff.

Actually wait, he hasn't done that last one yet, but it was a good one. He added it to the list of pranks to pull in the future.

It was now the afternoon and Lisa had spent the last few hours looking up if any masks had been stolen from museums lately. Not that she expected either dad or Bart to have stolen that mask, though she wouldn't put it past either Homer when drunk or Bart when he's sober. However nothing seemed to be coming up about stolen masks in her search, not even a museum break in. Maybe dad did legitimately buy Bart that mask. Why was she even doing this? It wasn't as if she wanted the stupid thing? Maybe it was just her busybody nature to poke her nose into things that didn't look right.

She was about to close down the internet window to end her search for 'Stolen Mask' when something caught her eye. One of the search results had a picture attached to it, and by the address it linked to the Springfield Tree, a news paper. 'Masked mad man humiliates cops, steals Duff truck and frightens old ladies.'

She would've ignored it completely, but the picture which sat next to it just stared her in the face. It showed a man in a rubber mask and plastic looking hair. It caught her eye because it just looked familiar somehow, as if she'd known that face her whole life but subtle changes to it made it nearly unrecognisable.

She saved the picture to her computer and started the PaintSlop Pro tool and loaded the picture into it. She first started by turning the skin the correct colour. Smoothed out the face, changed the eye colour to black. It was starting to look more human at least, but she still couldn't place it. As she moved the mouse over to smooth out his brow the mouse knocked next to her keyboard making the mouse click the 'remove tool' and she mistakenly removed the hair. She was about to hit 'undo' when she saw someone she recognised in that face. She used the paint brush tool to give the man two strands of hair in a comb over and some more hair around his ears. To finish it off she gave him some stubble of a short beard. This couldn't be right, could it? It must be a coincidence of some sort. There was no way that was who she thought it was.

"Dad?" She said out loud. The masked man looked almost like her father, the only difference being the eyes, which just looked… wrong somehow. Homer's eyes never looked like that, not even when he's angry and ready to strangle the life out of Bart. She went back to the headline and read what the news papers had to say.

'Police are currently seeking the identity of a masked man in his forties. The masked man, who was named by police as 'Green Face' reportedly took down two officers single handed and withstood several bullet shots to his body and head at close range.

When asked what the general public should do about this masked man Chief Wiggum gave this advice. "What I always say, keep all doors locked and a gun loaded and ready, and shoot anyone you don't recognise on your land."

It should be noted that later Wiggum recalled his last statement, asking not to shoot people you don't know in the street as it is extremely dangerous, and asked it be left to the professionals.

'Green Face' then went on to attack a stolen truck of Duff beer. Stolen by none other then local felon Snake, who was later apprehended. The police let Snake off with a warning not to steal Duff trucks full of empty bottles again, unless he asked permission first.

'That guy is 'so' gonna pay.' Were the words of Snake before he robbed this journalist of his camera and ten dollars.

Green Face was also reported to have attacked a couple of elderly ladies. Patty and Selma Bouvier, in their apartment. Though the truth of these claims have yet to be substantiated.

Lisa stopped reading there. In some ways this sounded like her dad. The stolen Duff beer, attacking Patty and Selma. But Homer had always restrained himself from steeling stuff and hurting Patty and Selma, even when drunk. Besides, if he had drank an entire truck full of Duff beer he'd die of alcohol poisoning. Yet the similarities between 'Green Face' and Homer were uncanny.

Location: Springfield Family Home

Date: Sunday

Time: 8:15pm

Were the words going through Bart's head as he prepared for his night of pranks. On his bed he had a collection of things such as fire crackers, toilet paper, a flash light, –because it was dark outside,- a bag full of Santa's Little Helpers dog poop, -a little old hat he knew, but this was going to lead into something bigger-. He also had a tube of superglue. All of which he began packing into a backpack while in the semi-darkness of his room.

His plan was set the bag of dog poop on fire outside Skinners house. Skinner would come out and try to stamp on it to stop the fire spreading. Not only will this foot smell of dog poop, but what he wouldn't know is his other foot will be stood in super glue, which will glue him to the spot. Bart will also put glue on the rails of Skinners porch, because he'll probably try to grab on to help lift his shoe off. He'd then be a sitting target for their spit balls, which is what the toilet paper was for. This was gonna be so great.

A crackling noise came over his Krusty the Clown walkie-talkie –aka the top secret Krusty-talkie- as his partner in crime Milhouse made contact.

"Bart, I don't know if my parents will like me being up this late again, especially after what happened the last time."

Oh, ay caramba! Milhouse was his best friend, but he could act like such a dork at times. He picked up the walkie-talkie and talked to him as he began changing his clothes to something more suitable.

"Milhouse, if your parents told you to jump off a cliff would you do it?" He asked, as he began pulling on clothes similar to his last ones, only they were green patchy like the combat clothes in the army.

"I suppose I would, yes." Came Milhouses lame reply. "But with my asthma I don't think I'll be able to make it up the mountain in the first place."

With his new camouflage disguise on Bart was about to speak again when he heard a noise outside. Someone was coming! He ducked down behind the bed waiting for whoever it was to pass.

"Bart, you still there?" Shut up Milhouse! Bart wanted to say but couldn't risk giving away his position to the enemy.

Bart saw from under his bed a crack of light from the hall. A shadow passed over it as someone walked up to the door then walked straight past. He breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't matter if he got caught anyway, it's not as if grounding him would stop him.

"Milhouse!" He whispered into the walkie-talkie. "Keep your voice down, don't give your position away to the enemy."

"Umm? Okay?" Milhouse sounded unsure about something, but Bart wasn't about to ask what it was.

"Don't worry, Milhouse." Said Bart, "just sneak out, get to Skinners and I'll be there in a sec, okay!" Before Milhouse could say anymore he quickly said. "Special Agent Double Oh Bart, out!"

He flipped the switch which turned the Krusty-talkie off, and he loaded his backpack with anything else he needed. At the last minute he picked up a super soaker full of cat pee. No point wasting an opportunity like this. He thought.

He took out his flashlight and flipped it on. It worked perfectly. Only one thing left to do before going on this mission. He walked over to a draw and rummaged around until he found what he wanted. Two elastic bands which he will use to strap the final part of his disguise to his face.

He picked up the Mask. Bart had tried in vain to drill holes into the stupid thing, but the drill he borrowed from Homer didn't even scratch it. Whatever it was made of it, it was something incredibly tough.

Still holding the elastic bands in his right hand, he lifted the Mask to his face. It was just about to make contact with his skin when suddenly…

"E-yow!" He yelped as his face skin felt like it was being sucked up and pulled on as if by a vacuum cleaner. The Mask -which was pretty solid- began bending inwards towards his face somehow! He immediately pulled the thing away from his face, which came off with a feeling of duct tape coming off skin.

That was weird! He thought as he looked into the back of the Mask. It felt like it was actually trying to attach itself to his skin! It didn't tear his face off at least, and he couldn't see any flakes of skin in there. His hands which held the Mask suddenly started to feel as if they were tingling, like when you fall asleep on your arm and wake up with them numb and tingling as the feeling starts to return to it, it was sort of like that.

Then the Mask lit up as a strange green and purple light passed over the inside of it from left to right. His eyes slowly went wide. He couldn't help himself as he brought the Mask closer to his face. Closer, closer... and closer... his nose made contact, then he pressed it firmly to his face.

Bart snapped back to his senses immediately. His hands fell, but the Mask remained attached. Bart reached up again and felt the Mask.

It was twisting and distorting its shape as if it was alive. He reached up to pull this thing off, but when he felt for where the edges should have been all he felt was more wriggling wood which slowly started to gain the texture of rubber. He reached further back behind his head looking for the edges. He found them, but they weren't staying still, they were stretching around the back of his head like the thing was growing and encasing him!

He grasped the edges with the tips of his fingers and tried to pull it off. He lost his grip and let go, the thing continued to stretch until it reached the back of his head where he felt the edges join together. He tried to dig his nails into the stupid thing, tried to grab onto it and make it come off. But it wouldn't come off! Was this thing going to suffocate him?

In desperation he shouted for help. "HELP" he cried. He didn't care if he was caught now. He didn't want to die because of a stupid mask. "HELP! SOMEONE HELP, GET THIS STUPID THING OFF ME!"

Just outside, Lisa heard her brothers cries for help. She dashed over to the door and gently opened it and stood back, half expecting this to be another one of Bart's stupid pranks. But nothing came, no water from above, no falling plastic spiders, nothing. Confident that if there was a prank then it wasn't in the door she pushed it further open until she could see Bart by his bed. He was holding the back of his head trying to scratch at some stupid green ball he had around it.

"Bart, what is it?" She asked, half sceptically, suspecting nothing was actually wrong and it was the lead to some prank. But still, there was worry in her voice.

Bart twisted around to face her and Lisa almost screamed. The green ball around his head looked like that old mask he'd gotten this morning, only it had wrapped completely around his head encasing it, and the thing was wriggling around as if it were alive! Bart was screaming for her to help him, his worried eyes just under the eye holes of the Mask.

Lisa began to approach when the wood grain of the mask began to light up in an eerie green, and bright green beams shot from it with a crackling noise like those that come from a welding torch.

The entire room lit up with a thunder crack, but it was a clear night outside, where the heck had that come from? It came again and the room lit up even brighter then before. Lisa started to back away when she saw Bart's skeleton through his body as another even louder thunder clap came. The sounds of thunder were coming from Bart!

What the hell was happening? His form was starting to glow and spark.

His body writhed one way, twisting him clockwise. He stopped for a second resisting the rotation, which he didn't appear to be doing voluntarily. But then he was taken completely by surprise when he was made to writhed the other way, but this time he couldn't stop nor slow down as he spun around, going faster and faster!

Lisa stood back watching in half fascination, half fear as Bart continued spinning so fast on his feet that he looked like a miniature tornado. Cries for help came from it, but were muffled as the air around him also rotated, causing a great gust of wind in all directions. The mini twister began moving around the room with incredible speed. It circled the bed and leapt over it causing the entire room to shake when it landed. It then proceeded to slam into the wall, causing Bart's toys and possessions to fall off the shelves above. The twister then began climbing up the wall as the tail of the twister made contact with the skirting board. He was on the ceiling now, upside down showing no sign of stopping or falling before reaching the other side of the room and he quickly spun down the other side, landing on the ground causing the entire room to shake again.

What the hell was going on here? Were the only words Lisa could think of, because not even her scientific brain could understand nor make sense of the faulty physics she was witnessing.

A loud screeching noise came out of nowhere which sounded like a brake being applied to a car, and the twister stopped so rapidly that any normal person would've fallen to the floor. But the figure which now stood where her brother had been not long ago didn't look much like a normal person at all. Nor did it look like her brother.

His clothes were different, he was wearing a white T-shirt with army pants and jacket which usually had the arm camoflage pattern on it, but in shades of red rather than green. His head was covered in a green, rubber mask which extended behind his head; and his spiky hair, which was originally spiked up, had become longer, jet black, and with many more points which now pointed in every which way making it look like a court jester's hat.

The creatures eyes snapped open, and Lisa jumped back. The eyes were larger then they should be! Almost twice as big, Lisa guessed; and its irises were a deep shade of crimson. His eyebrows lowered making the eyes looked halfway between evilness and just madness.

It then smiled, showing a row of bright white, perfect teeth. Perfect in every way apart from the size, they were much too big for his jaw, and could in fact probably set the world record for the larges set of teeth in the world.

"Bart?" Lisa asked trying to understand the transformation she had just witnessed her brother go through. "Is that you?"

The green boy straightened himself up. Bart didn't attempt to check his appearance, nor try to remove the green mask from his head like before. He was acting as if this were completely normal.

"Never better." He said. It was Bart's voice, only there was a slight echo and distortion, as if he were speaking through a voice modulator. But he didn't have one, so how was he making his voice sound so unearthly?

Suddenly, Bart was in her face; literally, one minute he was at one side of the room, the next he was right in front of her. "What are you doing in my room?" He asked, his voice sounded particularly hostile. Startled, Lisa fell backwards onto the floor and quickly backed away on all fours, not taking her eyes off Bart.

Lisa couldn't understand how he'd moved so quickly that she hadn't even seen it. The only time Bart was anywhere near that quick was when he was passing the art museum.

She crawled backwards, leaving his room and reaching the far wall in the hall she pressed herself into it. Fear and confusion on her face.

"What happened?" She asked, as Bart sped out of the bedroom and stopped rapidly. The door shut right behind him, which was odd because the door closed by itself once he passed through it, he didn't grab it or anything.

"I've got a new groove!" He said. Walking away Lisa noticed his movements were not like Barts at all, they were smoother, almost dance like. This was never Bart, yet it looked too much like… wait a minute! He looked a little like 'Green Face' from that news article she'd read a few hours ago. There were differences of course, 'Green Face' looked more like Homer.

What was Bart doing trying to copycat it?

His 'transformation,' if it was genuine, started with that green Mask, Lisa decided. So she reached forward, grabbed it and tried to pull it off. This must be a trick. She told herself. But when she pulled on the mask she had to stop. This was impossible! She was astonished when she pulled on the mask and Barts eye sockets moved out of position with the stretching rubber. The skin of his nose also shifted off the gristle base it should cover, and other things had moved around too that were too gruesome to even describe.

"Hey, get off my face!" Said Bart's mouth, which was now where his cheek should be. Alarmed, Lisa yelped and let go of the Mask, which snapped back into place. When Bart turned to look at her she just managed to stop herself screaming.

His face hadn't gone back to the way it should. It was completely wrong! One of his eyes was where his ear should be, while the other eye was in his mouth, the location of his mouth was now on his left cheek, rather then being in front of his jaw. His empty eye socket was at the top of his head and his nose was in the right place, but upside down; and his ears, in fact that was a point. The ears were the only thing Lisa couldn't see even before she distorted his face.

"Moms always say, 'if you play with your face it'll stay that way.'" He laughed. He reached up and quickly and physically pushed and pulled each facial feature back into its original position. When he was finished Lisa noted that the ears actually were absence from the face.

Suddenly he was gone again, with a whoosh and a gust of air which ruffled Lisa's hair. Bart raced into the bathroom.

Lisa followed, watching Bart with a strange mixture of scientific curiosity and amazement. He was standing on the toilet seat looking at his face, making minor adjustments to his appearance. Reaching up with his left hand he pulled at his nose, which stretched so far he could fit a football inside each nostril. A pair of scissors somehow appeared in his other hand and he trimmed his nose hairs, which bushed out of each nostril like a massive pair of hair balls. The speed at which he trimmed them was also much faster. Bart let go of his nose and it all fell back into place perfectly.

Bart was behaving, and acting just like a cartoon character! And it was real?! How?!

Looking back in the mirror Bart showed his big, white teeth and he wiggled his lower jaw from side to side to get a good look at them. Then he turned his attention to his big red eyes.

"Whoa!" He said. "Way cool!"

He turned and saw Lisa in the room with him.

"Hey!" He screamed as his distorted voice suddenly became high pitched. "Can't a guy get some privacy around here!"

"Did that mask do this to you?" Lisa asked. It was a theory, but before the twirling transformation that green thing on his face looked like that Mask Bart had gotten this morning. The one Homer bought him the night before. An idea began forming in Lisa's head.

"You betcha!" Said Bart, his voice back to normal, or as normal as it could be. He leapt off the toilet seat, onto the floor and walked straight past her back into the corridor.

It was the Mask! Somehow that mask changed him into 'this.' That means 'Green Face' probably was her dad! He just doesn't realise it! Now Bart had that mask and he was now Green Face too! Lisa decided to follow Bart, because if that Mask made him capable of moving really fast and allowing him to distort his body like a cartoon character, what else would it allow him to do?

She noted Bart wasn't acting himself either. In fact, no that's not right. Bart was acting 'more' like himself then normal, like he had been dialled up to eleven. With the addition that he took all these strange things in his stride as if they were completely normal. How? How could he not recognise the strangeness of what he was able to do? Then again, before this transformation Bart acted like he couldn't see what was wrong with blowing his nose and showing it to people for a laugh.

Lisa decided for the good of everyone in Springfield she had to get that thing off Bart, and fast before he does some serious damage. Knowing Bart, that wouldn't be long. Looking at the back of his head just under his wild hair she could see a sort of ridge where the two halves of the Mask joined together. If she could get her fingers around it maybe she could pull it off him.

It was worth a try, she thought as she snuck up behind her brother and quickly dug her nails into the back of the mask. Bart yelped and reached back to try to get her off him, but she wasn't going to give up easily. His hands wrapped around her wrists and squeezed tightly trying to force her to let go, but she remained hanging onto the Mask as tight as she could.

The edges of the Mask were coming away! The two halves of the ridge were separating and a green glow came from underneath, along with the sight of Barts blond hair! Lisa began parting the two halves when Bart suddenly let go of her wrists and his hands disappeared somewhere behind her. She then felt a pain from her backside which made her lose her grip on the menace of a mask. Suddenly everything went dark as something fell over her eyes and jammed under her chin leaving her blind. Whatever it was it began pulling her head backwards so much she had to arch her back.

"WEDGIE!" Bart screamed laughing light a real loony. Lisa pulled and slid her own undergarment off her face. Bart was laughing, but then suddenly his face turned to a more serious tone before saying, "DO - NOT – TOUCH – THE – FACE!" in a deep voice which didn't sound like his.

Element of surprised lost she reached forward to rip the mask off Bart's face. But he leapt into the air at twice his normal height making Lisa miss. He landed behind her and shot off faster then she could keep up and ran into his bedroom. Lisa followed and the door behind her slammed shut of its own accord. Bart was bouncing around the room from wall to wall to ceiling and floor as if he were made of rubber. He then began running along the walls very fast with no sign of feeling the effects of gravity. Her eyes could keep up with him but there was no way she'd be able to catch him.

He leapt off the wall, somersaulted in the air, he landed on his bed and leapt back up and out the closed window, which smashed as he passed through it leaving a Bart shaped hole in the fractured glass.

Lisa heard an audible snatch and stretching noise as she went to the window to see where he went. She had to use a chair to get some extra height to see outside and the sight before her just made her laugh.

Bart had jumped out of the bedroom window, but on the way down he'd gotten his head wedged between two thick, sturdy branches from the tree just outside his bedroom. The top half of his head ballooned out under the pressure while the bottom half had stretched towards the ground. His body was on the ground running as fast as it could, its legs rotated so fast they were a whirl of motion, like in a cartoon, but he wasn't going anywhere because of his trapped head.

This was her one chance, Lisa lifted herself up towards the window so she could climb out. She undid the catch on it and slid it upwards. Being careful of the sharp glass which littered parts of the window frame she crawled out grabbing a branch to pull herself up into the tree. Bart had done it thousands of times before so how hard could this be?

On the branch now she slowly crawled her way towards Bart's trapped head and she reached forward about to pull on the ridge which would get the mask off him when... Snap! The branch she was on began to break away. This freed Bart's head and it quickly snapped back to him knocking him to the ground.

The branch broke clean off and Lisa fell towards the ground. She tried to grab onto another branch on the way down, but each one was too flimsy and broke under her weight and the momentum. This might not have stopped her, but it slowed her down enough so she survived the landing on the ground. Dust was kicked up from the floor and entered her eyes. She coughed, waving away the dust and wiping her face until she could see again. Some of the dust had gone into her mouth and she was still coughing.

She could see Bart was still here, the big red eyes looking at her in a form of cruel amusement.

He twisted his left leg over the right and spun around really fast like he did when he was transforming, but when he stopped he wasn't wearing the same clothes. He was dressed in black trousers and a white shirt, in his right hand was a microphone, his face had a small, fake moustache and he raised his empty left hand high into the air at an angle and clenched his left fist. Music suddenly filled the air from no apparent source, it had a thudding beat and Bart tapped his foot in time with the rhythm. As Lisa coughed up more dust Bart sang in a mock singing voice. "Another one bites the dust!" An obvious imitation of Freddy Mercury from the British rock group Queen.

He then twisted his legs around and swung his arms to force himself into another fast spin, only this time he didn't stop. He just went faster and faster, dust was kicked up from where his feet now formed a point making contact with the floor, and the whirling noise also grew in pitch. A great gust of wind blew Lisa's hair around as the whirling, spinning form of Bart began to move. He shot forward through the white fence and passed through it with the noise of a chainsaw and Bart left a hole in the shape of a distorted, inverted triangle as he passed through. The mini twister continued on suddenly, leaping over the next tall fence with ease and disappearing from view.

The whirling noise died down as Bart, whatever he had become, disappeared from sight.