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!
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten