[LNHY/ACRA] The Daily Super Short-Short Story #21

Saxon Brenton saxon.brenton at uts.edu.au
Tue Sep 28 01:45:54 PDT 2004


The Daily Super Short-Short Story #21
 
A Devil Came Down to Georgia 3
 
Last Time: Damian was so busy looking for new victims to corrupt that 
he grew careless and let a mugger sneak up on his current meat puppet.
 
     Damian cursed himself for a foolish sock as Murdock went down. He 
hadn't been so careless in ages! Still, there were certain minimal 
precautions that Damian always took to protect all of his mounts, and so 
despite having been knocked to the ground, Murdock was still conscious 
and for the most part undamaged. Time to reverse the situation.
     He feigned being stunned as the mugger moved in with practiced 
speed. Unhindered by either bodily pain or the threat of death from 
the fight, Damian directed with detached interest; interesting how the 
assailant (scruffy looking white male, early post-adolescent, medium 
height and build, scar on left cheek) was using his fists rather than 
a weapon.
     Murdock kicked him in the groin when he came in range, prompting 
a squeal of agony. Slightly faster than an unaugmented human could 
have moved, Murdock was up and on his feet, lunging to grab at his 
assailant. The mugger matched him speed for speed, prompted a 
metaphorical raised eyebrow from Damian; was this one some sort of 
net.ahuman?
     As the two monkey boys continued to spar, Damian decided to test 
the notion. It would chew up some of his reserves of occult power, but 
it might be useful to have a meat puppet that was already superhumanly 
powerful. Mentally tracing out dark hierograms of power in his mind, 
the evil sock slowly raised Murdock's speed and skill.
 
 
     TJ cursed. Bastard had got him right in the goolies! Damn, that hurt!
     It looked like this one would be tough, since his Fist was usually 
enough to take care of things. They went through a few feints and 
parries as each tried testing the other, but then TJ realised that this 
mark was beginning to speed up. Shit, how fast could this guy go? It 
wouldn't take too much before TJ wouldn't be able to keep up.
     He really didn't need the hassle. A quick robbery and clean getaway 
was all he wanted. Was that too much to ask? And physically tougher than 
normal though he might be, he didn't want the risk of an extended fight. 
He pulled his gun to finish this off quick.
 
 
     As the boy pulled a weapon Murdock grabbed him by the scruff of the 
neck and beat his head repeatedly into a wall. Three good hard whams and 
a broken nose later, and Murdock let the mugger fall to the ground.
     Damian looked down at the mugger both through Murdock's eyes and 
his own esoteric senses, considering the situation.
     It didn't seem that this monkey boy was all *that* powerful, but 
objectively speaking it would be sensible to take a mount who was a 
local to the area and who wouldn't seem out of place as the wondersock 
toured around town on the prowl.
     But this was not the reason for the actions that Damian was planning.
     Damian was feeling misanthropic (big surprise) and wanted to make 
things unpleasant for someone who had been unlucky enough to attack him.
     One quick glance around to check that the coast was clear and 
Murdock took off his left boot. The wondersock was already wriggling 
from the human's foot; it was an unpleasant sight, because the sock had 
a way of ~crawling~ that would have made an Hollywood special effects 
director start feverishly contemplating how it could be used in the 
next horror blockbuster.
     Murdock took off the mugger's left shoe and sock, and the 
wondersock transferred itself over. Acting under a few final 
suggestions (not commands, Damian couldn't command anyone unless he 
was wearing them), Murdock donned the left-over sock, put on his boot 
and went back to his rig to get on with his life.
     Damian forced his new body into a state that would pass as 
consciousness, got up and went his own way. He needed time to repair 
the new human's body, and so he began pulling leavers in its mind to 
return to its home.
     As they went their separate ways, Damian contemplated what Murdock 
had waiting for him. They'd had some fun together. Damian had taken a 
loving, family-oriented man who missed his wife and kids when he was 
out on the road and @tWysTed@ the trucker just a little bit at a time 
to made Murdock think that it was natural to drink just a little too 
much and sleep with a few women of negotiable affection - all in the 
name of easing the stresses of a long road haul, of course. They were 
the type of influences that were settled deep into the mind - and even 
if they couldn't *compel* a reaction, they'd linger for ages.
     There was some good stuff in there, like the benefits of keeping 
his wife in line with a good beating every now and then. Even if worst 
came to worst and Murdock resisted and didn't end up with a divorce, 
well, Damian had already arranged for Murdock to contract HIV while he 
was sleeping around. So their time together hadn't been completely 
wasted.
     .oO( Now, who are *you* boy? And how can I keep myself amused 
using you while I'm looking for the big score? ) Damian asked 
rhetorically as he began rummaging through the mugger's mind. 
Then: ( Timmy-Joe Jim-Bob!? Do parents really give their spawn names 
like that? )
 
Tomorrow: Damian repairs Timmy-Joe.
 
The Daily Super Short-Short Story series and wondersocks created by 
Arthur Spitzer, and used with belated permission.
 
-----
Saxon Brenton    University of Technology, city library, Sydney Australia
     saxon.brenton at uts.edu.au 
The Eyrie Archives of Russ Allbery which collect the online superhero 
fiction of the rec.arts.comics.creative newsgroup can be found at:
     http://archives.eyrie.org/racc/



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