GODLING # 21: The Fall of Destiny!

GODLING # 21: The Fall of Destiny!
by J. Vandersteen
– GODLING – THE ONE MAN PANTHEON
THE FALL OF DESTINY!Master Destiny has his Spear against Officer Janson’s chin. Can
Godling be quick enough and take him down before she’s dead?
“I know what you’re thinking, hero. But even with the speed of Hermes
you won’t be fast enough. I see you twitch and she’s dead.”
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! Suddenly the Spear is gone, leaving Master
Destiny befuddled, looking a this empty hand.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! Destiny’s punched in the face and falls down.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! Janson and Darlene King’s chains are gone.
High-tech Godling stands triumphantly. “Good thing there’s more than
one of us with superspeed. Some you’re not keeping an eye on.” He
holds the Spear above his head. “Without this thing you’re useless,
right?”
Destiny runs for High-tech Godling and the Spear. He runs into Darlene
and Janson, though.
“Payback time!” they say and hit him both at the same time. KA-WHAK!
He goes down.
“Here,” High-tech Godling tells our Godling and throws the Spear. Our
Godling catches it.
“Break that thing!” High-tech Godling says.
“I think I should use it first to put things right again. Get City
Hall down from this mountain for one thing.”
“Take it easy, that Spear is a dangerous weapon. If you get to
experience it’s power you might not want to lose it.”
“You guys keep an eye on me then,” Our Godling said.
The original One Man Pantheon went to work. He started by lowering
City Hall down, while the other Godlings captured the superpowered
henchmen of Destiny. Some villains managed to get away, some were
captured willingly, some needed some extra persuasion in the form of a
fist or on some occasions a blast from the Spear.
“We need to imprison these villains somewhere,” Our Godling told High-
tech Godling. “A normal prison won’t hold them. Time to create
something better.”
He pointed the Spear at the earth and from it, slowly, a huge metal
structure started to arise. It was a cross between a normal looking
prison and a Greek building.
“Behold, Tartarus II, the containment facility for superpowered
criminals!” Our Godling said proudly.
“Who will guard the prisoners? Who will take care of them?” High-tech
Godling asked.
“I thought of that as well,” said Our Godling and a door in the new
prison opened. From it, three robots, three times larger than a human
walked forth, moving by using metal tentacles for feet. In fact, they
had hundreds of tentacles. They had two red lights for eyes and a
speaker for a mouth.
“These are the New Hekatoncheires, special robots to guard the
prisoners and provide for their basic needs.”
“Impressive. Now please, relinquish the Spear.”
“Why? Don’t you see what I can do with it? Did you see what I just
created? Don’t you understand what I can do? I can me all-powerful. I
can cure disease, eliminate hunger, war, crime… I can create
paradise.”
“Listen to yourself! Do you really think you want to be a God? Don’t
you think you want to draw the line at being a Godling?” High-tech
Godling pleaded.
Godling thought about his future with the Spear. How he could make
earth a better place, free his brother from prison, make Monica love
him… He dropped the Spear, shocked by his thoughts. Make Monica love
him? Make her? Where did those dark thoughts come from? Maybe High-
tech Godling was right. Maybe the Spear wasn’t meant to be used by
human beings.
“I see your point,” Our Godling said. “I’ll make sure the Spear is
hidden somewhere no human can ever reach it.”
“Good,” High-tech Godling said. “Now we’ll get those villains inside
that prison and then we’ll leave to our own time.”
Our Godling shooks High-tech Godling’s hand. “Thanks, Me.”
High-tech Godling smiled. “That’s nothing you wouldn’t have done for
us. I can be very sure of that.”
Our Godling had to laugh at that.*The day after…
There was a lot of public debate about this new prison, Tartarus II,
and how it fit in with human rights. The villains were locked up, but
still had to go to trial. DA Linda Cooper, just promoted from being
Assistant DA, had a hard time trying to get all of them prosecuted.
Meetings were held to find out just how Tartarus II was going to be
governed.
Wade Hudson was on leave to recuperate from his battle with Destiny,
while Darlene King and Officer Janson were treated by a police
psychologist to come to grips with their experiences.
TV stations all over the world had their cameras focused on New Troy.*Godling, meanwhile, was on a ferry with Rhadamantus, crossing the
rivers of the Underworld.
“You came to the right place to keep your artefact guarded. No
ordinary living being is allowed passage beyond the adamantine gates I
am taking you,” the ferryman of Hades told our hero.
“I know, and if they do they’ll have to face a very dangerous guard
dog.”
Rhadamantus smiled. “Yes, Cerberus is not an easy one to defeat.
“No one will ever use the Spear of Destiny again,” Godling said.*Centuries in the future High-tech Godling arrived home. His family was
glad to see him arrive. Two kids hugged him, his wife, a stunningly
beautiful black woman in a purple dress, wearing a tiara, kissed him.
“How did you fare?” she asked him.
“I was successful. It was great to see me back then. Still so young,
full of promise. Just at the start of that period that will change the
world. Little did I know then what wonders I would encounter, which
universes and dimensions I would travel, which new heroes I would
inspire. And what love I would find.”
The black woman kissed him again. High-tech Godling also thought
something else, something he hadn’t said out loud, not to upset his
children. He also thought, “Little did I know then there were even
greater evils than Master Destiny to face.”
THE BEGINNING