by J. Vandersteen, illustration by Dan Sehn
A centaur with a horn on top of his head is being wrestled down by
Godling. In the background is an armored car.
"Did you really think it was a good idea to rob an armored car in the
middle of the day, in the middle of New Troy?" Godling asked the
centaur.
"Nothing can stop Mr. Unicorn," the centaur says and shakes off the
hero.
Godling falls down on the road. As he slowly gets up Mr. Unicorn
gallops toward him, horn first, ready to spear him.
The One Man Pantheon is ready for him, however and grabs the horn,
using the strenght of Heracles to swing the villain against the armed
car. The result is that Mr. Unicorn is slumped against the armored
car, surrounded by armed cops.
The leader of the cops, Wade Hudson tells Godling, "Thanks, I guess we
needed your help on this one. I don't know why but it seems suddenly
the city is crawling with supervillains."
Godling had noticed that himself already. Where a week ago there was
only a handful of them active the last year now there was an explosion
of colorful, superpowered villains.
"I don't know either, but there's something strange going on, that's
for sure."
"Well, I won't rest until this goon tells me how he turned into this
thing."
Then, from a patrol car, a cop yells, "Sarge, there's another incident
with a freak at City Hall. And guess what... he's holding the mayor
hostage!"
Before Wade can Godling for help the hero is already gone.*
A young guy in a Slayer T-shirt stands before Master Destiny.
"I heard you're giving away superpowers. I want some, dude," the
rocker says.
"Fine. You can have them, but remember that to get them you will be on
call to me 24 hours a day."
"I don't need no boss, dude," the rocker says.
"It's not like that. You're free to go whatever you want to do with
the powers... Until I ask for your help. Sort of like being an Army
reserve."
"Cool. I guess that's okay."
"What do you intend to do with your powers?"
"Create havoc, man! Anarchy!"
"Good," Destiny says. "That suits my purposes very well."
He points his Spear of Destiny at the rocker. A beam of light comes
from the Spear and envelops the rocker.
The rocker's skin turns into metal. He moves his hands and discovers
that he can move them at superspeed. "Wow, radical!"
"I dub you Speed Metal," Destiny says. "NOw take off and do harm!"
Speed Metal was gone in a second.
Destiny laughs, "Another one to keep Godling busy. My plan of inviting
thugs to give them superpowers is working. With all these
supervillains running around there's no way he has time to follow up
on Tony Gold's story." (as seen in last ish -- Ed).*
City Hall. The outside is filled with cop cars. They all have their
guns pointing at City Hall. A negotiator is shouting through a
megaphone. "Let the mayor go! We've got you surrounded."
The answer comes in the form of a City Hall employee, being thrown out
of a window. "I've got the upper hand here. And the only way I'm going
to let the mayor go is when you get me a helicopter and a million
bucks. And be quick about it, or the next one out the window will be
the mayor."*
Inside City Hall the mayor is on his knees. Behind him stands a man
with a head that resembles a squid, tentacles hanging in front of his
mouth, obscuring it.
"You think they got the message?" he asks the mayor.
The mayor pleads, "Please, don't hurt anyone any more. Let us go."
The villain wraps his tentacles around the mayor. "When I get my money
and my helicopter you're free to go. If not, you die. It's that
simple."
Someone taps the villain on his shoulder. He turns around and is met
by Godling's fist, knocking him across the room, freeing the mayor
from his grip.
Groggy, Squidhead gets up. "How did you get in here unseen?"
"I just used Hades'power to become invisible and walked right in
here," Godling says. "And I've got a lot of other powers to channel.
So just surrender before you really get hurt."
"You won't be taking me down that easily," Squidface says. His
tentacles become longer and longer, wrapping them around Godling.
"Did you really think you could trap me for long?" Godling says and
breaks free from the tentacles. "I've got the strength of Heracles!"
He grabs the tentacles and pulls Squidhead closer. Then, with the
speed of Hermes he uses the tentacles as a rope to tie up the villain.
Satisfied he stands next to the wrapped up body. "Ready for the cops."
"Godling! Thank you, thank you! How can I thank you?" the mayor says.
"Just invest well in the police department. I can't be everywhere at
the same time and with this invasion of supervillains it seems
necessary."
"Don't worry. I'll make sure of it," the mayor says. "But let me thank
you by declaring a Godling Day."
"I'm not in this for the glory," Godling says. "I just want to protect
people." But he knows that the Greek Gods who give him his powers
would appreciate it. After all, the reason they gave him those powers
in the first place was to improve their image and visibility on Earth
again.
"A true hero... You'll hear from me!"
"I have to go now," Godling says and leaves with the speed of Hermes.
He has papers to grade, after all he's a superhero part-time, he has
duties as college professor as well.*
Godling enters his appartment in his professor Quentin Alexander
identity. He's tired but can't go to sleep, he's got papers to grade.
He makes himself a cup of coffee.
He sits down on the couch with the papers and his coffee. Then there's
a knock on the door.
He gets up, opens the door and is greeted by pretty officer Janson.
Deja-vu (see #10), he thinks.
"Don't worry, professor. I'm here not to arrest you this time." She
smiles a wonderful smile.
Quentin laughs. "Good to hear. What can I do for you?"
"I just wanted to let you know I never really thought you were guilty.
And I wanted to see if you're okay."
"That's very nice of you. I'm doing fine, thanks."
"I was also wondering if... err... maybe you'd like to go and grab
some coffee with me sometime."
"I'd love to," Quentin says.
There's a sound from Janson's radio. She answers it. "Oh god...
Another supervillain! This is crazy."
"What's going on?"
"Some superpowered hardrocker is tearing apart the mall, my assistance
is needed. Sorry, have to go. I'll give you a call. Thanks for taking
me up on the invite."
"Sure," Quentin says.
Janson leaves, Quentin closes the door. He looks at the papers and
sighs. "Maybe I should quit my day job."
He changes into Godling and leaves his place through the window...
NEXT: OVERPOWERED!
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