[MV] The Super Wizard From Space #26: To Hell And Hell And Hell And Hell And Hell And Back Again, Part 2

[Andrew Perron]

On Fri, 23 Dec 2011 02:24:13 +0000 (UTC), Wil Alambre wrote:

> The Super Wizard From Space grabbed the Devil by the lapels, yanking him
> off his feet. His thin red face was pulled right up to a very unamused
> frown, so close that he had to turn his cheek; the bright glow emanating
> from the wizard's skin was like a crackling fireplace, alive and uneven
> and uncomfortably hot. 

*opens tiny umbrella*

> The irises lit with star-fire, too blinding to look at directly. An
> ember of fusion was being fanned within the wizard's skull, leaking out
> his mouth and tear ducts. Damnation, he really meant to melt his head
> clean off!

I'm reminded of the Destroyer in the Thor movie, only the image in my head
is significantly cooler.

> He needed to be more careful about how hard he pushed those
> buttons, as he was probably the only being the Super Wizard From Space
> would get completed brassed off about. 

...aside from everyone else in the universe, it seems.

> When he addressed the wizard, it was in as casual a tone as he could
> manage. "You didn't know you were in a cosmic tournament at the time,
> did you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have left without the Super Devil's
> cosmic crown, the black circlet.

Ahhhhh, I wondered if I'd just missed that.

> "Now that business with the double-crossing? That admittedly got out of
> hand. See, I thought I was being a clever git, making me another deal
> with a greater demon just in case things went south. Seems the Super
> Devil did the same. And wouldn't you know it, so did the fellows that we
> went to to have our backs. Well... long story short, the lot of us are
> now entombed in the stone sepulchres of Quinto-Hell.

D'oh!

> The Devil rolled his eyes. "Yes, that's what it got twisted into. That's
> the whole lovely point of loopholes. But the contract, in its plainest
> boy-scouts-honor no-weaselling-about meaning, it's about me getting you
> to the Super Devil. Once the two of you settle your challenge, however
> it ends, the deal is done. All parties satisfied, free and clear. 
> 
> "All those other back-up deals, they only got tangled up because the
> original was scuppered. You have your challenge, they all unravel, bob's
> your uncle, we all go home happy."

Ahhhhhh, interesting.  Simple enough to be fiendishly complicated.

> Take in the sights, talk up the
> locals, come home and have a laugh about it with the missus. Or is there
> still a missus? I never was sure how that worked out with you."

More details on that, but delightfully ambiguous ones.

> As the wizard tilted his head slightly in thought, the spectral notion
> struck with the speed of a cobra. Without substance, without weight, it
> drove at the back of the wizard's skull and squeezed. Like oil finding
> cracks in the pavement, it oozed inside. It found the rooted objection
> and unravelled it… it wasn't hard, the Devil was right, the animate
> notion had help from the battering insistences of the wizard's crown.
> The natural opinion and native reason were peeled apart, its own foreign
> suggestion layered atop instead.

...brrrrrrr.

> "You've no exigency to pursue a discretionary deponent," it announced
> from the middle of its mass, more of a memory of something said than
> anything with real sound. A sensation of bared fangs wrapped in a
> terrible smile. "The Secret Living Language will sportively chaperon
> your licit confrontation."
> 
> "Yes," said the Super Wizard From Space, unsurprised. "I thought you
> might."

Dun dun DUNNNNNNN!

> This issue has a lot of exposition in it. Truth be told, it's entirely
> exposition. I tried to keep things interesting by interweaving a couple
> extra things into it, like the hint about the red-dress girl and the
> who-is-manipulating-who atmosphere. I can promise the next few parts
> will have more forward momentum.

Honestly, all-exposition issues are not only a necessity, when done well,
they're a pleasure.  This was in the latter category.

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, has had expositiony issues that weren't
nearly so cool.