GODLING
# 39: The Fall of Godling part 2: Powerless! by J. Vandersteen
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GODLING – THE ONE MAN PANTHEON: The Fall
of Godling part 2: Powerless!
Six dark-clad monks face Godling on the streets of New
Troy, having just killed an innocent bystander. Angry, Godling attacks.
The One Man
Pantheon executes a dropkick, hitting one of the monks in the face. Another
monk stabs at our hero with a black dagger. Godling manages to catch the dagger
on one of his wristbands just in time and elbows him in the face.
A third monk
slashes at Godling with a flaming Tibetan Jian sword. The hero ducks, the sword
barely missing his head. He hits the monk with Heracles strength, sending him
flying against another monk, both crashing against a wall. That leaves four of
them.
One of the
monks starts to summon an ancient spell. Above Godling’s head a dark cloud
appears out of nowhere. From the cloud comes a bolt of lightning, striking the
hero. He channels the invulnerability of Achilles just in time, staying unhurt,
but smoke comes off his muscular body.
“You call
this lightning? THIS is lightning!” he says and hurls a bolt of lightning at
the spellcaster, channelling Zeus’ powers. He hits the spellcaster, knocking
him out.
Two other
monks are busy casting another spell while a bunch of police cars arrive. Wade
Hudson gets out, assault rifle in hand, accompanied by a few other armed cops.
The concrete
under Godling’s feet starts to rise and take the form of two giant hands. They
grip the hero, who struggles to free himself, using the strength of Heracles.
Another monk
aims his black dagger at the police. A bolt from the dagger makes one of the
police cars explode. The cops barely manage to jump away so they are not hurt
by the explosion or flying debris.
“Keep out of
this battle!” the monk yells at the cops.
“You cause
havoc in my city, you answer to me!” Hudson says and fires his assault rifle at
the monk.
The monk
draws a circle in the air with his dagger and a blue glowing shield appears in front
of him, catching the bullets fired.
Godling
breaks free from the hands of concrete, shattered pieces of it flying away. He
focuses his attention on the monks, telling them, “Now to take care of you…”
*
Olympus. Hermes, Ares, Aphrodite and Apollo are
gathered in front of Zeus.
“So, it is
decided. I will take away Godling’s powers,” Zeus says.
“You can’t
just do that!” Aphrodite says. “Without his powers he won’t be able to defend
New Troy. Or himself.”
Zeus waves his
hand. “It is done.”
*
A monk slashes at Godling with his flaming Jian sword.
The
invulnerability of Achilles will keep me from harm, Godling thinks. To his
surprise the sword leaves a bleeding chest wound.
“My powers? I
failed to channel Achilles’ invulnerability?” he says, full of surprise. The
monk uses this confusion to slash again, another wound opening. This time in
his side.
Hurt, Godling
falls on his knees. He tries to heal the wounds with the healing powers of Aesculapius.
Nothing happens.
“My powers!
They are failing me! Why? How?” Godling cries out. “Gods, have you forsaken me?”
“I don’t know
what’s going on, but it looks like you need my help this time,” Hudson says and
jumps in front of Godling, kicking the monk in the stomach, then hitting him in
the face with the butt of his rifle.
Without my
powers I might also not be able to maintain my Godling appearance, the hero
worries. And true, as he touches his usually clean-shaven chin he feels a
bristling beard. A beard his alter ego professor Quintin Alexander wears.
A monk uses
the spell again that makes a concrete hand appear again. It slaps Hudson with
enough force to send him flying away, right into a parked van. Another monk
uses the removal of Hudson from Godling’s side to step in and swing his sword,
ready to behead the hero.
There’s a
flash of pink light that heralds Aphrodite’s appearance out of nowhere. “Come
with me and live.” She grabs Godling’s hand and teleports away with him, with
another flash of pink light.
“What was
that? Where did he go?” a monk asks.
“I don’t know
but we had him on his knees. The city is ours to take,” another monk says.
“Our orders
were to kill the Godling. We didn’t. We must retreat and ask for new orders,” a
fellow monk says. He issues a spell and there’s a lot of smoke that surrounds
the monks before they teleport away.
A fellow cop
helps Hudson on his feet.
“What the @#%
just happened here? Can everyone and his dog just appear and disappear out of
nowhere these days? And what was that thing Godling was saying about his
powers? Is he powerless or something? Man, I always told this city they shouldn’t
rely on that showboat to keep this city safe. They should keep their money bet
on me and my firepower,” Hudson says and racks the slide of his gun to
emphasize that.
“But, but…
These monks were using…magic! How can we deal with something like that?” the
cops asks Hudson.
“With more
firepower,” Hudson answers.
*
The apartment of Quintin Alexander. Aphrodite and
Godling teleport inside. By now, Godling has fully regained his Quintin
Alexander form. He is bleeding.
“Let’s get
you on your bed,” Aphrodite says and with her godlike strength has no trouble
carrying Quentin to it. She gently places him on his bed.
“What’s
happening, Aphrodite?” he asks. “What happened to my powers?”
“Zeus and the
other Olympians are unhappy about the way you promote them. You are their
prophet, but you seem more involved with just keeping the world safe and doing
good deeds than telling people you owe all your powers to them. The reason they
gave you these wonderful powers was that they hoped they would get more people
to believe in them once again, allowing them to grow in strength. We are only
getting weaker and weaker. Granted, more slowly since you appeared on Earth,
but still we grow weaker.”
“Being a hero
is what IS more important to me. These powers are for protecting people. To me,
the whole prophet thing comes second, I cannot deny that. Hitting people over
the head with gospel just isn’t my thing.”
“That’s not
what you should be saying if you want your powers back.”
“Maybe I don’t.
If I can’t do this the way I think it should be done, maybe I don’t want to. What
has life as Godling given me? Sure, I saved lives… But it also wrecked mine on
more than one occasion. Without Godling I can finally focus on getting reacquainted
with my brother, sort out my love life… Heck, I might even teach more often. You
guys can keep your powers.”
“I’m sorry to
hear that. I’ve always believed in you and your kind heart,” Aphrodite says and
puts a hand on Quentin’s chest. “But, if this is what you want… Okay.” She
offers Quentin a small vial. “Drink this, Panacea borrowed me some of her
healing potion. That will take care of those wounds. That’s all I will be able
to do for you now.”
Quentin took
the vial and drank. His wounds closed magically. “Thanks. For saving my bacon
there and for the potion. And for all the advice and believing in me. It was an
honour knowing you.”
“As it was
mine. Farewell, Quentin.” With a flash of pink light she is gone.
*
A red carpet premiere in Hollywood. A blond, Armani
clad, good looking man, flanked by beautiful women gets out of a limousine. Cameras
flash, microphones are directed at him.
A reporter
stands in front of a camera, saying, “We’re here at the premiere of Days of the
Gods where actor/superstar Marcus Brant has just arrived. We’re eager to talk
to him about his new movie and about the rumours of his relationship with Scarlett
Johanson…”
Just around
the corner stand Hermes, Apollo and Ares, eyeing the arrival of the superstar. They
wear trench coats that hide their ancient, godlike attire.
“Are you sure
Zeus meant this pretty boy?” Ares asks his brothers.
“Very,” Apollo
says. “He’s got everything we can ask for in our prophet.”
“But will he
be able to be a hero as well?” Hermes asks.
“For the sake
of this world I hope so…” Apollo answers.
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