GODLING # 18: Defeated!

GODLING # 18: Defeated!
by J. Vandersteen
– GODLING – THE ONE MAN PANTHEON in:  DEFEATED!
Godling is hit in the face by a man with a face that’s a mix of an
alligator and a human face, Mr. Gator. WHAM!
Mr. Napalm start to fire rays from his eyes that envelop Godling in
flames. If he wasn’t using the invulnerability of Achilles he’d be
toast.
Angry, Godling kicks Mr. Napalm in the stomach, turns to Mr. Gator and
punches him in the throat. If he could only use his invulnerability at
the same time as his Ares fighting techniques, or Heracles strength.
Unfortunately, he can’t, making his attacks against his enemies not as
effective as he wants them to be. Gator easily recovers from the blow
and tries to hit Godling again. The hero decides to go for another
tactic. Still burning he grabs Mr. Gator in a bearhug. Gator howls,
the flames that still cover Golding burning him. He’s hurt enough for
Godling to recover somewhat. He rolls down on the floor to extinguish
the flames. As he gets up he sees Mr. Napalm preparing to hit him with
another round of his burning vision. With the speed of Hermes Godling
runs into the villain. Being hit at that kind of speed is like being
hit by a train, so Mr. Napalm goes down.
Mr. Mimic is the next one to attack, changing into an elephant he
storms the hero. Godling calmly grabs him by the trunk and swings him
around the room, on top of Napalm and Gator. To finish him off for
sure he throws a lightning bolt at him.
“Nice work, hero,” Death Dog says. “But you won’t take me out that
easily.”*
At City Hall Wade Hudson, Officer Janson, Detective Darlene King and a
whole army of other cops are barricaded against the building. They’re
firing their weapons at an army of superhumans who are attacking them.
They’re like an angry mob, a bunch of hooligans, a thick wall of
villains, all on their way to City Hall.
“Where did they come from?” Janson asks.
Wade answers while firing his assault rifle at the villains. “No idea,
we’ve had more and more of these superpowered crazies showing up for a
few days now. All of a sudden it seems they all decided to attack City
Hall. And there’s no sight of Godling.”
“We’ve been protecting this city without that bodybuilder for years.
We can do it again!” Darlene says. She’s carrying two 9mm pistols.
A monstrous, hulking figure with four arms and red skin comes awfully
close to her. She shoots it in the eye. The villain screams and covers
his eyes. She proceeds to shoot it in the crotch. The hulking figure
goes down. For good measure Darlene fires a few rounds in its skull.
She reloads and says, “See what I mean.”
She has barely spoken those words and she is hit by an energy beam and
she loses consciousness. “Darlene!” Wade yells and runs towards her. A
villain with lassos for arms catches him, preventing him from helping
her. He shoots the villain’s arms of.
Janson helps him out and hits the villain with the butt of her
shotgun, taking him out.
Wade checks up on Darlene and comes to the conclusion she’s
unconscious but breathing.
“What do you crazies want?” Janson asks the army that is attacking
them.
Then, there is an answer. All the way in the back a man stands,
holding a spear. “I want control of New Troy.”
“What do you mean?” Janson asks.
“I want the mayor to give me his job,” the man says. He’s bald and has
a red goatee. He’s wearing an expensive red suit. The spear in his
right glows with power. “I am Master Destiny and soon I will rule this
city.”
“The hell you will!” Wade says and fires his assault rifle at him. The
rifle is in his left hand, with his right he holds Darlene.
Master Destiny waves with the spear and the bullets disappear. He
points the spear at Wade and a red flame shoots from it. The flame
turns into a hand. This red flaming hand starts to choke Wade.
“Let him go!” Janson shouts and fires her gun at Destiny. The bullets
just vanish in the air with a wave of the Spear.
Wade goes unconscious and the flaming hand disappears. Janson kneels
down beside him and Darlene, trying to see if he is still alive.
Master Destiny stands next to her and says, “I think it should be
clear by now that resistance is futile. This city belongs to me.”*
Death Dog fires two pistols at Godling. The hero’s invulnerability
defends him for harm, though. He closes in on his enemy, and when he’s
close enough he uses the speed of Hermes to disarm the villain. With
the strength of Hercules he hits him, knocking him through the bar’s
wall.
Death Dog doesn’t stay down for long though. He gets up and enters the
bar again through the hole in the wall. He jumps Godling who catches
him and throws him into the bar, knocking down bottles and glasses.
The villain ends up behind the bar.
Panting, Death Dog grabs a small communication device and speaks into
it. “Get me some more thugs.”
Then they arrive, appearing out of thin air. Godling thinks he
recognizes some of them, many are unknown to him. All of them seem to
have some sort of superpower. There’s villains with knifes for hands,
villains with skin like concrete and villains that fire all sorts of
strange energy blasts from hands, eyes and mouths. They attack all at
once.
Godling switches from power to power, trying to use his
invulnerability long enough to prevent him from getting hurt, short
enough to use his other powers so he can strike back as well. He kicks
a villain with horns in the face while he knocks down another one with
his elbow. He takes down two of them with lightning bolts. The
villains keep coming however and after so many days of almost fulltime
fighting against all sorts of supercriminals the One Man Pantheon is
getting tired. He’s been at this for just too many days in a row, been
hurt too much… It seems to be a matter of time his fatigue lets him
make a mistake and then the villains will win..
One of the villains is wearing a red and yellow costume with a
radiation symbol on it. “You’ve met your match in the Nuclear Warrior,
hero!” he says and starts to fire of bolts of energy at Godling. The
hero was just using the strength of Hercules to throw a villain that
looks like a human dinosaur through the window as the bolts strike. He
goes down, without the invulnerability of Achilles no match against
the nuclear blasts..
Death Dog laughs. “The last is mine,” he says and kicks Godling in the
face. The hero blacks out, surrounded by laughing villains.
“Finally, he’s defeated! The city is ours!” Death Dog says.
A dozen men appear in the room, appearing just as suddenly as the
villains did. One of the man says, “All hope for New Troy is not yet
lost!”  NEXT: THE BATTLE FOR NEW TROY!

GODLING # 17: Trapped!

GODLING # 17: Trapped!
by J. Vandersteen  – GODLING – THE ONE MAN PANTHEON in:  TRAPPED

  Godling stands in the food court of the New Troy Mall. There are
unconscious people all over the mall, windows are smashed.
“What the Hades happened here?” he says.
Behind him are a few cops, among them is Officer Janson. She says, “He
calls himself Speed Metal. Superspeed and superstrength. He’s been
looting the stores and basically just wreaking havoc. He doesn’t seem
to be really interested in stealing, just in creating a bloody mess.
We tried to stop him but he’s too fast to hit with our guns and too
strong to detain.”
“I’ll make him sorry he ever entered this mall,”Godling says grimly.
“Show yourself, Speed Metal! Let’s see how you fare against me?”
Something coming from the right hits Godling in the chin, making him
spit some blood. It returns from the left, hitting him again. Then it
returns from the front, hitting him with such impact Godling is thrown
backwards, bowling over the cops.
The assailant stands still. It’s a young hardrocker with metallic
skin. Laughing, he says, “I think I fared pretty well.”
Godling untangles himself from the cops that are under him. While they
help each other up Godling points an accusing finger at Speed Metal.
“I’ve taken down tougher villains than you, punk. You just
suckerpunched me.”
“Let me suckerpunch you again,” Speed Metal says and punches the One
Man Pantheon a hundred times with superspeed. This time, however,
Godling uses the invulnerability of Achilles to take the damage
without blinking.
Speed Metal stops punching him after a while and stands there panting,
a confused look on his face. “Why didn’t you go down?”
Godling doesn’t answer that but just gives him a roundhouse punch with
Heracles strength that catapults Speed Metal through a bookstore’s
window. With Hermes speed he goes after him.
Speed Metal is buried underneath a rack of books.
Godling picks up the rack with one hand and throws it behind him. He
grabs Speed Metal by the hair, picks him up and holds him in front of
him. “Your reign of terror is over, Speed Metal.”
“Who writes those speeches of yours? James T. Kirk? You’re giving me a
headache!” Speed Metal says. He headbutts the hero, making Godling
drop him. He takes off with superspeed.
Godling rubs his painful forehead and then follows Speed Metal with
the speed of Hermes. They run through the mall, follow the stairs and
go higher until they are at the top floor.
Speed Metal suddenly stops, Godling isn’t able to stop on time and
runs into the villain’s elbow. Godling goes down.
Speed Metal stands in front of him, smiling, his arms crossed. “I am
so kicking to kick your ass.”
A hail of bullets catch the villain in the chest, not enough to wound
his metal skin, but enough to make him stagger back. Janson and two
other cops appear from the stairs, firing their handguns.
That was all the distraction Godling needs. Now, angry as Hades, he
barrels into Speed Metal at Hermes-speed, driving him against the
wall. He grabs him by the hair, swings him around with Heracles
strength and lets him go. The villain flies through the mall, hitting
another wall. As he tries to get up Godling throws a Zeus lightning
bolt at him. There is the smell of iron being forged and Speed Metal’s
lights go out. He lies there, KO, smoke coming from his metal skin.
“Haste makes waste,” Godling tells him. He focuses his attention on
Janson. He thanks her for her help.
“No problem, Godling. Thank you for your help.”
He had to admit she was getting prettier every time he saw her. Had he
been focusing on Monica Sawyer that much that he had been unable the
other great women around him. He felt bad her offer to get some coffee
with him, in his identity of Quentin Alexander had been cut short by
Speed Metal’s attack.
“You should interrogate this guy, see where he gets those superpowers
from. This invasion of supervillains has to have some kind of source.
I think a mysterious man called Master Destiny is behind this, but I
have no idea where to find him.”
“We’ll grill him,” Janson assured the hero.*
Tony Gold sits in his bar, nursing a drink. “Things are getting
crazier every day. More and more of those supervillains are popping
up. How are my guys supposed to keep up with that?”
The door of the bar opens.
“Get out of here, we’re closed.”
Three shadowy figures enter. “No, you are out of business,” one of
them says.
“What are you talking about?” Gold asks, now alarmed and reaching for
the cellphone in his jacket. He’s got Godling’s phone number there,
having handed the One Man Pantheon a phone so he could call him for
help.
Before he can get the gun out one of the figures has reached him and
breaks his wrist. The phone drops to the floor. He smiles at Gold with
silver fangs.
“I’ve got to call Godling,” Gold thinks.
One of the other figures eyes start to light up. Fire shoots from the
eyes, burning Gold to a crisp.
The third figure steps up. He looks just like Gold and picks up the
phone from the floor. He looks up Godling in the Contacts and calls
him.*
Godling was on his way to the University because of a class he had to
give as Professor Alexander when he ran into a bank robbery. A guy
looked like a mix between a Triceratops dinosaur and a bodybuilder. He
didn’t want to be late for class, but couldn’t ignore that situation
either. So, as a result, he was being knocked through the wall of the
First Troy Bank, landing on a cab parked outside.
Triceratops Man left the bank through the new hole in the wall and
sauntered over to the hero, ready to give him some more hell. Godling
was pretty mad by now, though. First being pummelled by Speed Metal,
now by this villain had cost him all the patience he had. Kid’s gloves
were off. So he picked up the car, using Heracles strength, and hit
the villain with it.
Triceratops Man went down. Godling started to hammer into the villain
with the car until it was totally wrecked and the inhumanly strong
villain KO.
Then Godling heard his phone ring. He picked up, still panting from
the fight. He recognized the voice immediately. “Gold?”
“Yeah, this is Tony. You’ve got to go to the bar, pronto. I’ve got
some news about Master Destiny.”
“I’m on my way,” Godling assured him, and away he was. With Hermes
speed.*
Godling entered Tony Gold’s bar. The lights were out. He could barely
make out the lone form of Tony Gold sitting at the bar.
“Mind if I turn on the lights?” Godling asked.
“No, go ahead,” Gold said.
As the lights went on two more figures were revealed. They both were
wearing dark suits. One of them had a face that was a mix of an
alligator and a human face. The other one had fire coming out of his
mouth and eyes.
Tony Gold started to change form. Suddenly he had a face that only
consisted of eyes. No nose, no mouth, no hair, no ears.
“What the Hades?” Godling exclaimed.
“May I introduce you to my friends, Mr. Gator, Mr. Napalm and Mr.
Morpho,” a voice said. Then Death Dog appeared. “I think you still
remember me? We’re going to kick your ass, hero.”


NEXT: DEFEATED!

Volledige inhoud weergeven

GODLING # 16: City Under Siege

GODLING # 16: City Under Siege
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!

GODLING # 15: Dealing with the devil

GODLING # 15: Dealing with the devil
By Jochem Vandersteen
Godling jumps down from a wall, fists clenched in the air, saying,
“Leave him alone!”
He lands on the floor of a dark alley where two thugs, one armed with
a knife and one with a pistol have cornered another man.
“This neighbourhood falls under my protection now. Don’t think that
with the death of Safari you can just rob innocent people without any
consequences.”
“Go to hell!” the thug with the gun says and aims his weapon at the
hero.
Godling uses the speed of Hermes to wrest the gun from the thug’s
grip. A few lightning quick punches (TWACK-TWACK-TWACK-TWACK-TWACK)
take the bad guy down.
The thug with the knife wraps an arm around his victim and puts a
knife to his throat. “Beat it or this guy’s toast.”
“Drop the knife,” Godling says and aims the confiscated gun at the
thug. “I can channel the powers of a God of War. No way I’m going to
miss.”
“#$% you!” the thug yells.
One well placed shot hits the thug in the shoulder, making him drop
the knife. Godling rushes over to him and floors him with a roundhouse
punch.
“Are you okay?” Godling asks the victim.
The victim nods. “Sure, these guys took me by surprise.” Then
something drops from his pocket. Godling picks it up. Cocaine!
“What the Hades? Were you buying drugs from these guys? Or were you
selling that crap to them and did they decide to rip you off?”
“Come on, Godling. Forget about it, okay. Everybody’s okay here.”
Godling grabbed him by the shirt. “It’s not okay. If you’re involved
with drugs I’m going to get you to the cops along with these
dirtbags.”
“If you let me go I’ve got some information you’d be interested in!”
“You want to cut a deal with me? Who do you think I am? The District
Attorney?”
“Don’t you want to know who’s behind the influx of superpowered
baddies in New Troy?” the man leers.
“Speak.”
“I know a guy who knows more about that. Seems there’s some incredibly
powerful mastermind behind all of it.”
“Where can I find that guy? And how do I know you’re not lying to me?”
“I’ll tell you when you promise to let me go.”
Godling thinks about that. He doesn’t like letting criminals go free.
“What do you have to lose? If you let me go a smalltime dealer stays
on the street. If you don’t let me go you pass up on the chance of
taking down the biggest crimelord of New Troy.”
Godling has to admit the guy has a point. “I promise to let you go
this time. But if I catch you with drugs again I personally will slam
the door of your cell shut.”
“Sure. Okay, you need to talk to a guy they call Tony Gold. He hangs
out at a bar a few blocks from here called The Spot. Biggest crime
boss in the area. Can’t miss him, he’s got a mouth full of gold.”
“You’d better not be lying to me.”
“I swear I’m not!”
“Good, then beat it!” Godling says. The man runs away, leaving the
hero with the two other thugs.
He takes out a cell phone and calls the cops, telling them there’s
some garbage for them to pick up, courtesy of the One Man Pantheon.
*
With Hermes speed Godling scours the city, looking for the bar called
the Spot. It only takes him a few minutes. He stops in front of the
bar. There's a neon sign on the roof that shows the name in big purple
characters. He walks in.
The bar is filled with unsavory characters, from bikers to gangbangers
and all sorts of riffraff. At the bar sits a big black guy with a
fedora and gold teeth. The patrons look at the entering hero.
"What the hell are you doing here?" the black guy says.
"If you're Tony Gold I'm here for you."
Suddenly almost half of the patrons takes out a gun and form a line in
front of Tony.
"I see you've got some protection," Godling says. "Too bad it won't do
you any good."
With Hermes speed he takes on the bodyguards. A few minutes later the
floor of the bar is willed with weapons that have been taken apart.
"I'm here to talk. No weapons necessary, okay?"
"Tell me. What do you need?"
"Word on the street is you know more about the whole explosion of
superpowered beings in New Troy."
"I know a lot of things. But why would I tell you anything?"
"Well, there's a lot of guns here and a lot of characters who don't
want to get involved with the cops, I'm sure. If you tell me what I
want to know I won't call them."
Tony thinks about that. "You do know that I can get you in a lot of
trouble if you take me on. This is just a small example of the people
I have working for me."
"Did you see how easily I disarmed your thugs. That is just a small
example of the powers I have."
Tony sighs. "Very well. I've learned that there is a powerful man
pulling the strings of all organized crime behind the scenes. They
call him Master Destiny."
"Is he pulling your strings as well?"
Tony laughs. "He wants to. In fact, he sent over some of his
superpowered enforcers to get me to work with him. My men took them
out."
"Where does he get those superpowered men?"
"I heard he can give superpowers to normal people. Wouldn't mind to
have that power myself."
"Where can I find him?"
Tony shrugs. "No idea. I just know what I told you."
"Aren't you afraid he'll sent his enforcers after you once again?"
"I have some pretty well-armed people behind me."
"You've seen what a superpowered individual can do with those guns."
Tony looks around and picks up a piece of a gun. He looks worried.
"I'll make you a deal. You help me find Master Destiny and I will
protect you from his men."
"That doesn't sound too bad."
Godling put up a finger. "Make no mistake, that won't mean I will be
letting you get away with your criminal acts. I'll protect you from
bodily harm but I WILL stop you if I catch you doing something
illegal."
"Sure, sounds fair."
Tony digs around in his pocket. Godling holds up a hand. "Watch it,
Tony."
"Don't panic. I just wanted to give you this," Tony says and hands
Godling a cell phone. "If I find out anything or if I'm in danger I'll
call you on this phone. Keep it with you."
"All right," Godling says. "And again, be warned... I WILL be making
sure your criminal acts are thwarted."
"Yeah, yeah. Sure."
Then, Godling is gone.
*
"Well, well... So you are striking a deal with the devil, Godling,"
Master Destiny says, watching one of the screens in his lair. He's
seen everything that went on in The Spot.
A beautiful scantily clad woman walks in, carrying a plate with a
glass of wine. Master Destiny takes the glass and kisses the woman.
The woman leaves and he sips from the wine.
"I will make sure you will be way to busy to ever get involved with
me, hero. Selena, come back!"
The beautiful woman walks in again. "Master?"
"I need you to contact all my underlings. There is a message I need to
put out on the streets."
Selena bows. "Certainly, master."
*
Godling stands at Safari's grave.
"Don't worry, friend. I will be making sure your neighbourhood is
safe. I know I made a tricky choice by allying myself with Tony Gold.
But something needed to be done in a New Troy without your extra
protection."
*
Tony Gold drinks a beer at the Spot. He looks very pleased with
himself. He thinks, "This is working out quite well. If I can get
Godling to take out Master Destiny I will be ruling the New Troy
underworld. And then I will be crushing that hero under my foot."

NEXT: SUPERPOWERED INVASION!

GODLING # 14: Maneater!

GODLING # 14: Maneater!

By Jochem Vandersteen

With the speed of Hermes Godling runs through the hallways of the

abortion clinic. In his hands a ticking timebomb. He’s thinking, “I’m

still not sure if I am pro-life or pro-choice but I’m absolutely anti-

terrorism. If I get my hands on the zealots who placed the bomb in

this clinic I’m going to kick their behinds in jail. But first I need

to get rid of this bomb… safely.”

He runs out of the clinic, which is surrounded by cop cars,

ambulances and fire trucks. The cops and firemen hardly see Godling

leaving the building since he’s running so fast.

He finds his way to the river where he drops the bomb. There is a

loud bang and a spray of water as the bomb explodes in the water.

Except for some puddles on the New Troy Bridge there’s no damage to

anything or anyone however.

“Good, that’s done,” Godling thinks. “Now I have to get to courts

asap. Walker thinks he’s got a pretty good defense now so I hope this

whole lawsuit will be behind me after today. The days in court are

getting to interfere with my superheroing.” With those thoughts he

starts to run again.

*

Marcus Walker, also known as Safari, New Troy’s urban vigilante and

professor Quentin Alexander’s lawyer is waiting in front of the New

Troy Courthouse. Glancing at his watch he thinks, “Come on, Quentin.

Please be on time…”

“Hello Marcus, I guess you’re waiting for me?” a voice behind him

says. Walker turns around and sees Quentin.

“Man, how did you manage to sneak up on me like that?”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

Walker puts a hand on Quentin’s shoulder. “No problem. Let’s get

inside and slaughter Amanda Reese and the D.A.”

*

“I have found out that miss Amanda Reese has filed the same charges

she has filed against my client against three other men. A

psychologist, a councilman and a businessman. All were convicted. But,

members of the jury… Don’t you think it’s a bit odd that the same

things happened to Miss Reese four times in a row?” Walker says in

court.

“Objection! This is not about Miss Reese’s earlier cases.

Professor Alexander is on trial here,” assistant DA Linda Cooper

protests.

“I think the information is very relevant,” Walker says. “It shows

miss Reese is systematically targeting men of power, falsely accusing

them of raping her because of some psychological problem.”

“Objection, objection, objection!” Cooper shouts. Amanda looks

shocked.

Walker smiles and thinks, “Object all you want but this will

surely end the way I want it to…”*

After a few hours the verdict of the jury is given. Not guilty.

As soon as those words are said there is quite some rumour in the

court, causing the judge to bang on his desk with gavel and call for

order. Quentin is hugged by Monica and congratulated by Wade and

Walker.

“Damn you! Damn you,” Amanda shouts, shaking her fist at Walker.

Cooper told her to quiet down, which she did. But she was thinking,

“I’ll get you for making a fool out of me…”

*

The following day there’s a big party at New Troy University to

celebrate the good news. Cops like Darlene King and Officer Janson are

present, just like Monica Sawyer and Marcus Walker. People were

holding drinks and eating cake.

“I always knew you were innocent, Quentin,” Janson tells the

professor.

Quentin smiles at the perky young cop. “That’s nice to hear,

officer.”

“Please, call me Kitty,” she says.

“I have to admit I wasn’t very sure, but it’s good to see justice

has been done,” Darlene King says.

“You have no idea how happy I am,” Monica tells Quentin.

“If you’re half as glad as I am, I have a pretty good idea,”

Quentin says.

Then Walker says, “What the hell are you doing here?” Everyone

follows his gaze. They see why he is so upset. Amanda Reese has walked

in.

“You made a fool out of me… All I wanted to do was feel good

again. Get back at all the bastards that caused me so much pain when I

was young. And you just made me look like some psycho bitch,” Amanda

says. She draws a gun from her purse. “I’ll kill you for that.”

If he’d just taken his potion Walker would probably have been fast

enough to dodge the bullet. Alas, he hadn’t. He held up his hand and

shouted. The bullet left Amanda’s gun and hit him in the head.

“NO!” Quentin shouts, also not fast enough to do anything about

the bullet. Walker falls down. Lifeless he is lying on the ground.

King and Wade draw their own guns and perforate Reese with

bullets. Bloodied she goes down as well.

Janson performs CPR on Walker. Wade tells her it’s already too

late. Nobody survives a headshot like that.

“No, no! This can’t be true!” Quentin shouts as sirens can be

heard in the background…

*

On Olympus Godling stands before Zeus, who is sitting on this throne.

“Damn your stupid rule! I want to bring back Safari to live again.

Marcus Walker saved me from jailtime, is a great hero… He shouldn’t

have died.” Godling says.

Zeus speaks. “Easy, Godling. You are addressing the Father of the

Gods. You should talk with a bit more respect. You know why the rules

are the way they are. You have seen the chaos that would follow if we

allow you to decide about life and death.” (That happened in Godling

#3).

“Please, see to it that Thanatos makes sure Walker is treated well

in the Underworld,” Godling pleads.

“That I will personally make sure of,” Zeus says. “Now, go back to

Earth and honour him.”

Godling nods. “I will, I will…” 

 

NEXT ISSUE: MASTER DESTINY RETURNS!

GODLING # 13: Tentacled Terror

GODLING # 13:  Tentacled Terror
by J. Vandersteen

A group of 4 students is sitting in their room on the New Troy
University Campus. The have drawn a symbol on the floor. On the
background heavy metal is playing. One of the students, a skinny kid
with a goatee, is holding a book and reading from it.
  "Wah-ha-za-ya-rahatahra-wazu... Wah-ha-za-ya-rahatahra-wazu..."
  One of the other kids, a bulkier black kid whispers to the girl next
to him, "That Nelson... Crazy as hell. He really believes in this
stuff."
  The girl giggles, "Yeah, but as long as he's got the weed I don't
mind keeping him company. He,--"
  A fire starts in the symbol... A large hole of light opens in the
floor and from it comes a big squid-like monster. All eyes and
tentacles, so big the walls collapse.
  "This doesn't look good,'' the black kid says.
*
Professor Quentin Alexander walks out of his classroom after just
having taught another mythology lesson. As he walks the NTU hallways
he can hear the students whisper. Things like, ''There he goes, they
say he raped one of his students, what a creep,'' or ''I can't believe
he's still teaching''. After the false accusation Amanda Reese made
his life has been hell. He was lucky enough to get out on bail, but he
knew there was a very real possibility he would be suspended. NTU
probably didn't want the bad publicity he brought along with him.
  Professor Monica Sawyer runs into him in the hallway. "Hey, Quentin.
Don't mind the rumors. I know you're innocent. And that will be proven
in court soon enough.''
  Quentin gave her a half hearted smile. "Sure. Well, at least you
believe in my innocense. Seems like you're the only on in this city.''
  ''Don't be stupid. Wade also believes that."
  "Right, probably because he thinks I'm too weak to pull something
like that.''
  "That's crap, Alexander! There's nothing weaker than rape."
  Then the walls go down, a big tentacle appearing in the hallway. The
students panic. Through the hole in the wall the big tentacled monster
is visible. It's tearing down the campus, picking up students and
putting them in a grotesque, large mouth.
  "My Lord! What is that thing!" Monica says, gazing at the monster.
"I need to call Wade, tell him to come as soon as possible with all
the firepower the NTPD has." She turns back to Quentin but to her
surprise he's gone.
*
Quentin changes into Godling, running out of the hallway. Outside, he
charges the monster at full Hermes-speed. The monster sees him coming
with one of his many eyes and slugs him with a tentacle. It is a good
thing Godling uses his Achilles-invulnerability on time or he would be
dead. He's knocked through one of the campus buildings.
  As he gets up he wonders, "What the Hades is that thing. It seems to
come right out of some old pulpy horror novel. Well, whatever it is I
need to stap it ASAP. Not only is it destroying the campus grounds but
it's killing the students as well."
  He flies to the monster, this time making sure the tentacles don't
reach him, evading them until he's close enough to it to smash it with
Heracles-strength. The monster howls and staggers backwards. Godling
lands on the floor before it, not being able to use two superpowers at
the same time. He continues hitting the monster with all his strength,
driving it back. The monster however, refuses to fall. Apparently now
really noticing the threat he grabs Godling with one of his tentacles,
lifting the One Man Pantheon to it's mouth. Godling tries to struggle
free but the monster is incredibly strong. When he's almost in the
mouth of the monster Godling grabs hold of it's tongue and janks it.
That seems to hurt it, dropping Godling.
  Godling decides he needs some ammo, getting close to the monster a
too dangerous endeavor. He starts to rip pieces out of the ground and
throws them at the monster. It however just uses it's tentacles to
keep them away from him. The hero picks up one of the cars on the
parking and runs over to the monster with it, then uses it as a club
to beat the strange enemy where ever he can beat it. Alas, also that
attack doesn't bring the monster down. Instead, it hits our hero again
with one of it's tentacles. This time he ends up against a tree.
  Sitting against the tree he rubs his temples. "I haven't faced
anything this powerful yet. How the Hades am I going to beat the
unbeatable? Where did that thing come from anyway?"
  "Sir... Mr. Godling... I might be able to answer that," a skinny kid
with a goatee and a Strung Out T-shirt standing next to Godling says.
It's Nelson.
  "You can?""
  Nelson holds up a book that says ''Necronomicon'' on the cover. It
seems like a very old and dusty tome. "I used this old book I dug up
at a fleamarket to conjure up this demon from another dimension...''
  "You what? Are you crazy?"
  "No man, just stoned. I really didn't think it would work. I
think..."
  Godling grabbed Nelson and looked him straight in the eyes, "How do
we stop that thing?"
  "I don't know man, it doesn't seem to be in the book."
  Godling saw the police had arrived, but with all their firepower
they were unable to hurt the monster. It smashed the police cars with
it's mighty tentacles. It had to be stopped, but how?
*
Walker is looking through court records online. He's still eager to
prove Quentin Alexander didn't rape Amanda Reese. "Maybe I can find
some kind of old jurisprudence that can help me out. There've been
cases like this before and... Whoa!"
  He looks at the screen of his laptop with his mouth open. There's a
picture of Amanda Reese on it. He reads the text that goes with it.
"What? Amanda Reese went to court on three more accounts of rape? What
is that girl up to?"
*
"I've got the powers of the Olympian gods... There must be a way to
stop this creature," Godling says. Then he gets an idea. He uses the
power of Poseidon to master the water running through the pipes under
the ground, the water finds its way out of the pipes, through the
ground, serving as a water cannon that fires at the monster. It keeps
the monster away from the cops, but it doesn't really seem to hurt it.
Whipping around its tentacles in a wild frenzy it crushes several cars
and trees, trying to shake of the water.
  "Wait a minute... That thing was conjured up by some sort of magic
spell... And who knows more about magic than Circe, sorceress and
queen goddess." Chanelling her magical abilities the One Man Pantheon
starts to weave a magic spell. "Go back to the dimension you came
from, demonspawn!"
  All kinds of magic symbols appear in the air around Godling's hands.
The demon is caught in a web of light. The ground opens up like it did
before when the monster first appeared. Slowly the monster is being
sucked in the hole and disappears.
  "Whoa man... That was awesome..." Nelson exclaims. Godling gives him
an annoyed look and knocks him down.
*
Quentin, having changed back from his Godling form encounters Wade
Hudson and Monica Sawyer. Wade's pretty bruised up.
   "Are you all right, Wade?" Quentin asks the tough cop.
  "Yeah, I just caught some shrapnel from when of our cars blew up
thanks to that thing."
  "Did you see Godling fight that thing?" Monica asked. "Where do
things like that come from? It seems life is getting weirder every
day. Where would we be if we didn't have Godling to protect us?"
  "We just need to get more firepower,'' Wade says.
  But Quentin knew there were beings that firepower would not beat.
The world needed Godling for that. If Amanda Reese had her way Godling
would be locked up in a prison cell and the world would be devoid of
their new champion. He would not allow that, he couldn't do that to
the world. He would prove his innocense, he swore it.

NEXT: MANEATER!

GODLING # 12: Seeking Justice

GODLING # 12: Seeking Justice
By Jochem Vandersteen


Walker was leaving the ER. His head bandaged, walking on a crutch.
Death Dog had hurt him pretty badly but nothing that would last
because of Godling intervening.
Man, I owe that guy, he was thinking. I've got to go to the cops and
ask for Quentin Alexander like Godling asked me to. If it's a friend
of him he can count on me.
Then he bumped into a muscular figure at the front door of the
hospital. Death Dog! He'd tracked him down via his scent. Dog growled,
"Now I'm going to finish off what I started."
Walker reacted immediately, slugging Death Dog between the legs with
his crutch. The villain whimpered like a puppy you'd just stepped on.
Walker followed it up by hitting him in the face with the crutch.
Apparently that was not one of his weaker spots, because he answered
that one by hitting Walker back. The black hero went down.
Dog grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up, throwing him against
a parked taxi, shattering its windows.
Death Dog smiled a feral smile. "I'm going to rip your throat out!" He
coiled his leg muscles to jump.
Frantically Walker tried to think up a way to defeat his enemy without
the benefit of his potion. He grabbed for something to help him defend
himself. He ended up with a piece of glass from the taxi window.
Death Dog jumped. Walker caught him in the eye with the shard of
glass. Dog's earlier whimper was now a howl. He covered his eyes with
his hands and went on his knees, full of pain.
Walker told the taxi driver to drive like hell.

*
Detective Darlene King, Officer Janson and Wade Hudson were in the
police cafeteria, at the coffee machine.
"That Alexander guy seems like such a nice guy. Can't believe he's
guilty," Janson said.
"You can never tell. Isn't it always the quiet neighbors who turn out
to be the madmen?" King offered. "You know the guy a little, don't you
Wade? What's your opinion?"
"Alexander is a wuss. But also a lonely wuss. I kind even remember
him being with a woman as long as I know him. In fact, I think he's
got a thing for my girl, Monica. Who knows what those hormones could
do when suppressed too long," Wade said and sipped some coffee.
Then a redheaded officer came in. Walker was walking beside him. The
officer said, "Detective King, Quentin Alexander's lawyer just
arrived."
"Nice to meet you," Walker said and shook King's hand.
"Well, well... That's a change for you, Walker," Wade said. "Don't you
normally help the underdog?"
"Who says professor Alexander isn't?" Walker asked.
"Well you sure look like one. What happened to you? Get hit by a
bus?" Wade asked Walker.
The lawyer smiled. "Actually it was a taxi. Now take me to
Alexander."
*
Death Dog had just bandaged his bad eye. He stood in front of a mirror
in his place. It was an empty warehouse somewhere, filled with dogs.
"You're going to pay for this, Safari," he told himself. "This time
you're going down."
"We're here," a voice said.
Dog turned around. Four armed gangbangers had just come in. The
banger who'd spoken up said, "You really want this guy dead, huh?"
"Yes, I want him dead. Torn apart!" Death Dog growled.

*
Walker was sitting across Quentin in the interrogation room of the New
Troy PD.
"Is Godling a good friend of yours?" Walker asked. "He seemed very
intent on getting you a good lawyer."
"You could say we're almost like blood," Quentin said.
"Must be nice to have a friend like him. He seems like someone you
can count on."
"Most of the time."
"Good, sorry to ask this but I'd like to know, are you innocent?"
"Absolutely. Does that matter?"
"To most lawyers probably not. But I like to be able to look at
myself in the mirror in the morning. But I guess you've got to be
innocent if Godling vouches for you. All right, first thing we've got
to do is get you free on bail. Maybe Godling could vouch for you in
court? That should do the trick after he saved New Troy from that
alien space ship."
"That could be a problem. I believe he's currently... occupied
elsewhere," Quentin said.
"Anyone else you can think of that could do well with the judge?"
"I can think of one person. I just hope he's willing to."
*
"I'm not vouching for him," Wade said. They were having diner in a
fancy restaurant.
"Come on," Monica said. "You have to. He asked you to, how can you
turn him down?"
"What if he's not innocent? That could cost me my good name."
Monica frowned. "It could cost you more if you don't. My respect."
Wade slammed the table with the palm of his hand. "What are you
talking about? What is it with you and that geek anyway? I can
understand him salivating for you, but why do you keep sticking up for
him. Anything I should know about?"
"Don't be a jerk, Wade. You know you're the only one for me. Quentin
is just a good friend."
"Be that as it may... How can you be so sure about his innocence? At
first I thought the guy's usually so mellow he has to be innocent. But
then I started to think. Nobody's that mellow. Maybe he's been keeping
it bottled up for too long. He's been without a woman for so long
maybe he just couldn't control himself anymore..."
Monica put her face in her hands. She'd been having the same thoughts
and felt incredibly guilty because of that. Could she really blame
Wade for having those same thought?

*
The courtroom was filled pretty well. Monica and Wade were there, even
Officer Janson, which made Quentin feel a little better. He'd taken on
some pretty dangerous situations since he started his Godling-gig but
this was different. He felt like he wasn't in any way in control. That
bothered him a lot. The assistant DA, Linda Cooper was a good-looking
blonde in a pantsuit. Her steely gray eyes were hidden behind big,
round glasses that seemed to be worn to counter the hot blonde looks,
make the judge take her seriously. Quentin took her seriously pretty
fast.
"This man abused his power as a professor by coming on to a student.
A student he had power over, knowing fully well he could be the person
holding her back from a college degree. This woman showed courage and
backbone however, denying him her body," Cooper said an pointed at
Amanda. Amande looked down, blushing.
"Objection, your honor," Walker piped up. My client is still just
suspected of those misdeeds. Miss Cooper makes it sound like he's
already been convicted."
"Sustained," the judge said. "Please pay attention to your phrasing,
Miss Cooper."
"I was just trying to make clear how earnest the accusations are."
The judge frowned. "Nobody doubts how earnest the accusations are."
"All right. I will pay attention, your honor. I want to make clear
that I think the defendant should not be free on bail."
"What? That's ridiculous!" Walker said. "Professor Alexander has no
record of any kind and is known as a very respectable man. There is no
flight risk involved in any way."
Cooper produced a photograph from a folder. She showed it to Quentin.
"Do you know this man, professor?"
Quentin took a look and nodded. "Yes. Yes, I do. That's my brother
Jake."
"And where is your brother right now?"
Quentin felt his mouth go dry. He swallowed. He had a bad feeling
about where this was going. "He is currently incarcerated in a New
York Correctional Facility."
Cooper looked triumphant when she said, "Yes, your brother is a
convicted criminal isn't he? Seems violent behavior runs in the
family, doesn't it? Your honor, with a family like that do you still
think he should be let out on bail?"
Walker stood. "Objection, your honor! Ob..."
Then the back wall of the courtroom exploded, revealing Death Dog and
his four armed thugs. "Yeah, objection," he said. He sniffed. He'd
managed to follow Safari's scent over to the courtroom. Now where was
he?
Everyone in the courtroom panicked. Security went for their guns but
shot down by the thugs. Quentin started to run, Walker as well. They
needed the confusion to turn into their superhero alter ego's. Wade
and Darlene King ran to the shot security men. Monica screamed loudly
as did Amanda Reese.
"Safari! I want Safari!" Death Dog yelled. "I want Safari or I'll
kill off every last one of you!" To make sure they got his threat he
grabbed a jury member by the neck and shook him like a rag doll until
he wasn't moving anymore.
Walker ran out the door, the thugs firing their guns at him but
without hitting him. Quentin was behind the judge's bench. The judge
was trying to run out the door as well, but a thug grabbed him,
telling him to stay there. Using the cover of the bench Quentin
changed into Godling and rose from it.
"This was a very bad idea," he told Death Dog.
Walker walked in the courtroom again, dressed as Safari. "A very very
bad one."
"We'll see about that," Death Dog said and charged. Safari dropped on
his back, catching Dog on his feet and kicking him back, righ into
Godling's fist. KA-RUNCH!
"Seems like we make a pretty good team," Godling told Safari.
"Yeah, good to see you here again," Safari said and gave Dog a
roundhouse kick in the face. "You take care of the thugs, I'll take
care of this psycho."
"Got it," Godling said and walked into the thugs' range of fire.
Channeling the invulnerability of Achilles he had no trouble catching
their bullets on his broad chest. When he was close enough he snatched
a thug's machine gun right out of his hands and smacked him on the
head with it.
Wade and King had managed to grab hold of the security's handguns and
warned the thugs to drop their weapons. The thugs now turned towards
them. Before they managed to fire any rounds however, Godling picked
up the thug he'd just knocked down and used him as a club, channeling
Hercules' strength to knock them out as well.
Standing over their unconscious bodies he smiled. "Guns dropped."
Meanwhile, Safari didn't seem to be faring that good. Death Dog had
his hands around his throat, his anger giving him incredible strength.
Safari tried to get loose, punching him in the gut, the liver, the
chest but the supervillain just wouldn't let go. Safari however, then
used the strength of a rhino to head-butt his enemy. CRACK! Death Dog
saw stars and went down. Immediately King and Wade cuffed the villain,
keeping their guns aimed at him.
"Seems like we solved this particular disturbance," Godling said.
"I propose court is adjourned however," the judge decided.
"My job's done here," Safari said and jumped out of the window.
Godling used his Hermes speed to leave the room and come back so fast
no one saw him return. During his return he changed back to Quentin
Alexander, appearing from behind the bench. "Are we safe?"
Wade sighed. "God, what a wuss, what a wuss... Judge, maybe you COULD
trust this guy to be released on bail."



NEXT ISSUE: OTHER-DIMENSIONAL DANGER