GODLING’s WORLD # 2: B.E.M. part 2

GODLING’s WORLD #  2:  B.E.M. part 2

by J. Vandersteen

 

 

– GODLING – THE ONE MAN PANTHEON & DR. PROTON in:  B.E.M. part 2

 

 

Hundreds of small Doctor Protons hit the beetle monster everywhere they can. Their tiny fists aren’t able to crack the beetle’s shell, though. The beetle wildly flays at the heroes with its spindly legs, throwing them off him.

Detective Simpson fires his 9mm at the beetle, but his bullets cannot pierce the shell either.

“Crap, we’re in big trouble here!” Simpson says.

“If we’re in big trouble I just have to become a bit smaller,” the Protons say and they split up in even more, smaller Doctor Protons. And they split up, and then they split up… What’s left is an army of microscopically small heroes. They find their way into the spiracles, the holes that lead to the beetle’s respitory system.

“What are you doing?” Simpson asks.

The beetle collapses and the Doctor Protons leave the spiracles. The small heroes join again to make up one Doctor Proton of normal human size.

“I just blocked its tracheal tubes long enough for him to pass out. It needs to breath as well.”

“A real scientist’s way to take down such a creature. Godling probably would have just dumped a truck on it.”

“As I said, I’m a scientist, not a superhero,” Proton says.

“You did say that. A lot of times. Well, what are we dealing with here?”

“It sure seems to be the thing that killed those poor people. It has the strength to do what happened to them, that’s for sure.”

Simpson scratches the back of his head. “So what do we do with it now? I’m not sure I can just lock it up or something. Does it need to go to trial? Can it talk or communicate?”

“I think we can best get it to my lab so I can investigate it further. I’ll get some tranquilizing gas from my jet to make sure it doesn’t wake up during the trip to there.”

 

*

A bit later… Simpson and Proton carry the beetle into Proton’s lab.

“Boy, is this thing heavy!” Simpson heaves.

“Maybe I can help,” a voice sounds.

Proton and Simpson are surprised to see Godling, The One Man Pantheon standing inside the lab, arms behind his back, like he’d been waiting for them to arrive.

“Godling!? What are you doing here? And how did you get through the security system?” Proton says.

“I channelled Hades’ invisibility. Worked like a charm for most of your security measures. The engineering abilities of Hephaestus took care of the rest. You did a pretty good job though, don’t worry about it. As to what I’m doing here… I encountered one of my own versions of that thing you’re holding there…” He shows he was holding the charred head of a beetle creature behind his back. “Yours seems to be in better shape though.”

“Did you dump a truck on it?” Simpson asks.

“Huh? No? Why” Godling puzzles. “I took it out with a lightning bolt.”

“Same difference,” Simpsons thinks.

“I don’t know what you mean, but let me help you with that thing,” Godling says and lifts the creature with Heracles strength. “Anyway, I figured your scientific expertise could help me out make sense of what this thing was.”

“Thanks. Please put it on the examination table over there,” Proton says, pointing at a high-tech table surrounded by fancy monitors, cameras and pads.

Godling puts the creature on the table.

“Okay, fill me in on what happened to you while I investigate this thing and tell me about my meeting with it.”

*

Later…

“Well… That sounds like we encountered the same kind of creature for sure,” Proton says, looking through a futuristic microscope at the creature. “It looks like the little bug I encountered earlier is a miniature sized version of this one. It might be its offspring or something.”

“So, it grew into one this size,” Simpson says, pointing at the creature on the examination table.

“Probably. As I mentioned before there are traces of an unknown type of radiation on it which makes me wonder whether it is alien,” Proton says.

“I’d almost say it will have to be. I encountered aliens before, so I do know for a fact there is something out there. And a lot of it isn’t that nice,” Godling says.

“I wish I could talk to it or something,” Proton muses, stroking his chin. “I feel the only way to find out what this creature is and what it wants is to communicate with it.”

Godling shrugs. “Can’t help you there. Mind-reading isn’t one of my powers to channel.”

“And here I thought you could do anything,” Simpson says.

“Not anything. Just everything the Greek gods and heroes can.”

“So we’ll stay in the dark for a bit longer, I guess,” Simpson understands. “How long will this thing be under, anyway?”

“No need to worry, it gets a new dose of tranquilizing gas as soon as the scanning equipment registers the former dose is not working anymore.”

“Uh… Makes me wonder… Where is the little alien beetle you investigated?” Simpson asks Proton.

“I locked it in a glass cube next door. It’s where I keep most of my lab specimens when…”

Simpson is starting to break a sweat. “Yeah, if our big guy here is a grown version of the little one, shouldn’t we be worried about…”

His words are cut short when through the wall a beetle creature walks in.

“Crap, I hadn’t thought of that yet,” Proton admits.

Godling balls his fists. “Looks like we’ll have to some beetle bashing again.”

The beetle creature jumps up and lands right on top of Godling. His mandibles snap at the hero’s throat.

Proton grabs a fancy looking big, metallic gun from a shelf. “Let him go, creature!”

Godling hits the beetle in the head with Heracles strength, then puts his feet under it. He lifts the creature with his legs and then propels him away from him. It crashes against the examination table, and its fellow creature falls off it. Now that beetle also gets up.

“It’s disconnected from the scanning equipment and not being administered the gas… It’s up and running now!” Proton says and then aims the gun at the beetles. “Get back. This sonic blaster will take them out.”

Before he can fire one of the beetles slaps the gun out of his hands. The other beetle sprays some kind of purple chemical from his abdomen.

“What the hell is that?” Simpson wonders and is hit by it. “Damn! It burns!”

“Oh no! It looks like it has all the beetle’s defensive weapons you can imagine!” Proton says.

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED….

GODLING # 24: Coalition of Doom

GODLING # 24: Coalition of Doom
by J. Vandersteen, art by Chris Hebert


– GODLING – THE ONE MAN PANTHEON: COALITION OF DOOM


Squidface, wearing a trenchcoat and a hat to disguise the fact his
face looks like a squid walks into an alley. He thinks, "I'm still not
sure this is not going to be a trap. But I guess the offer sounded
just too good not to follow up on."
He removes a manhole cover and gets into the manhole.
A lift takes him further down. The lift opens and he gets out. He
enters a room filled with computers and high-tech stuff.
"Welcome to the Snake Pit," a man with the lower body of a snake,
wearing armor and carrying a staff, says. He is flanked by several
known villains: Panzerman and Death Dog and a guy in a skintight
costume covered with flames and icicles.
"Uh... Hi..." Squidface says.
"Meet Panzer, Death Dog and Thermonaut. I am Cecrops. Glad to see you
followed up my invite."
"It was a pretty compelling story. Banding together with a few of the
most dangerous criminals of New Troy in order to become the ruling
force of the city."
"It was, wasn't it? You see, I understood very quickly that the only
way not to end up being beaten by Godling is to band together. Form a
united force... A true Coalition of Doom!"
"Sounds good, how do I join up?" Squidface asks.
"We really want this clown in our group?" Death Dog asks.
Squidfaces elongates the tentacles on his face and wraps them around
Death Dog. "I almost beat Godling, I will have you know."
Death Dog breaks free from the tentacles and jumps Squidface, teeth
bared. "So did I."
"Cool them down, Thermonaut," Cecrops says. Thermonaut fires off
freezerays with his hands and suddenly Death Dog and Squidface are
trapped in ice.
Panzerman chuckles. "Pretty cool, haha."
"If we fight amongst ourselves, Godling will be able to beat us easily
still. We must really stand together," Cecrops says. "Free them,
Thermonaut."
Now Thermonaut fires hot rays, melting the ice.
Death Dog growls at Cecrops, "If you ever pull a stunt like that
you're dead."
Cecrops points his staff at Death Dog and fires off an energy beam.
Death Dog ends up lying on the floor, smoke coming from his body.
"Behave," Cecrops say.s "Or you're out of the Coalition."
Death Dog gets up. "Okay, I'll play along for now."
"Welcome to the group, Squidface. As an introduction you will get to
join us as we raid the New Troy First Bank."

*

New Troy Hospital. Godling is talking to a doctor.
"I'm really glad you helped us out with your healing powers," the
doctor tells Godling. "That Scorpion God killed a few people, but left
even more seriously wounded."
"My job does not end with defeating the bad guys," Godling says. "I am
sorry I cannot bring back those people from the dead."
"Hey, you did all you could," the doctor says and shakes Godling's
hand.
After that, Godling rushes out the hospital and flies off. In the sky
he thinks, "It still sometimes feels painful I can't bring people back
from the dead. I was clearly shown why that's not a good idea, though
(In #3, Ed.). I have to hurry now, I don't want to be late for my
date."
He lands in an alley behind the New Troy Cinema. He changes to Quentin
Alexander, then walks around the corner.
Janson is waiting for him there. She hugs him and kisses him on the
lips.
"Good to see you," she says.
Quentin smiles. "Likewise."
"I heard MP4 is the best in the series," Janson says. "I'm really
excited."
"Yeah, but did you hear Tom Cruise will be playing Jack Reacher? I
really can't believe they..." Quentin's words are interrupted by
Janson's cell phone.
Janson pick up the phone. "Oh-oh. All right, I'm on my way."
"Serious business?" Quentin asks.
"I'm sorry, I have to go," Janson pouts. "A group of supervillains is
robbing the New Troy First Bank. A SWAT-team has the place surrounded
but Wade figures they can use my experience dealing with these kind of
thugs."
Quentin gives her a hug and a kiss, saying, "I understand."
Janson runs off. Quentin walks to the alley again, changes into
Godling and flies off.

*
New Troy First Bank...
Death Dog is putting money into a large bag. Panzerman is holding an
entire safe on his bakc. Thermonaut is guarding the bank employees.
Squidface and Cecrops are looking through the windows.
"That's quite a large number of guns out there," Squidface says.
"They're no match for our powers," Cecrops says. "Let's go."
The villains walk outside. Wade Hudson orders his SWAT team to open
fire. Thermonaut melts the bullets before they can contact anything,
however.
Cecrops fires a blast from his staff at a police car, making it
explode. Squidface uses his tentacles to disarm two SWAT-members.
"The Coalition of Doom can't be stopped!" Cecrops shouts.
"We'll see about that," a voice says. It belongs to Godling, who lands
in front of the villains.
"I've been aching for a rematch!" Death Dog says and jumps Godling.
Godling throws Death Dog against a police car, channeling Ares'
fighting skills. He follows up with a roundhouse kick, connecting
Death Dog's skull against the car's window. The window shatters.
Squidface wraps his tentacles around Godling. "I've got him. Take him
out, Panzerman."
Panzerman punches Godling in the face, but luckily he's protected from
harm throught Achilles' invulernability.
He heats up his body channeling Hepheastus. Squidface screams, smoke
coming from his tentacles as he lets go. Godling ducks just in time,
avoiding one of Panzerman's punches.
The punch connects with Squidface's head instead, taking him out.
"Nice trick. Let me turn up the heat some more," Thermonaut says and
fires a fireblast at our hero. Godling uses the power of Poseidon and
has water erupt from a nearby fire hydrant, extinguishing the
fireball.
With the speed of Hermes Godling attacks Thermonaut, avoiding an
iceblast or two. He fires off a couple of superspeed punches to take
him down.
Panzerman is behind him, wrapping his arms around him. "I can take the
heat, hero. Give it your best shot."
Godling felt Panzerman squeeze the life out of him. Chanelling the
power of Heracles he manages to free himself and punches Panzerman
with such force he goes straight through a police car.
An energy blast hits Godling in the back. He falls down, smoke coming
from his back.
Cecrops smiles, holding his staff, still smoking from the blast. "We
haven't been formally introduced. I'm Cecrops, leader of the Coalition
of Doom."
Wade Hudson puts a rifle against Cecrops' temple. "You've been
focusing on the superhero a bit too much. I'm still the force to be
reckoned with in this city."
"Riiiiiiiiiight," Cecrops says and swings his serpent tail, knocking
Wade against a police car.
Janson arrives on the scene, carrying her pistol. "Wade!"
Cecrops turns to face her. She points her gun at him. He blasts her
with his staff. She manages to duck. The blast makes another car
explode. The explosion knocks down several cops.
Death Dog pops up behind Janson and wraps an arm around her neck,
putting a pistol against her temple. "You idiots are going to have us
leave or she dies."
"Good work!" Cecrops says. "Thermonaut, take us away from here."
Thermonaut builds a bridge of ice that is mounted by the Coalition.
Holding Janson hostage they leave via it.
One of the cops aims his rifle at the villains, but Wade knocks down
the gun. "Are you crazy? We don't want Janson to get hurt!"
Godling slowly gets up, his back hurting. "That was some blast..."
"They took Janson," Wade tells the hero.
Godling balls a fist. "I'll get her back..."



NEXT: THE ORIGIN OF CECROPS!