MISC: GODLING # 54 The Masked Merchant part 3 by J. Vandersteen

jvdsteen1974 at gmail.com jvdsteen1974 at gmail.com
Fri Apr 15 18:26:48 PDT 2016


GODLING # 54  The Masked Merchant part 3 by J. Vandersteen 


- GODLING - THE ONE MAN PANTHEON:  The Masked Merchant part 3


The interrogation  room of the New Troy PD. Wade Hudson is inside, sitting opposite one of the criminals that Dober-Girl left for the cops to pick up.
    "So, again... Tell me where you got those weapons," Wade says.
    "I'm not telling you anything," the crook says.
    "It might help you... Maybe we can make a deal. You lead us to the guy that provided the guns, we strike a few years from your time in jail."
     "How many years are we talking about?" the crook asks.
    On the other side of  a one-way window stands Godling, flanked by Detective Darlene King.
    "Looks like he's getting somewhere," Godling says.
    "Without breaking out the rubber hose even," King says.
    "I can't wait till I get my hands on that arms dealer," Godling says.
    As on cue there's a cloud of smoke in the interrogation room. From the smoke steps a man clad in a purple robe and mask, The Masked Merchant.
    "Looks like I need to silences someone," the villain says, producing two futuristic guns from his robe. He fires them, totally disintegrating the crook.
     "NO!" Godling yells, walking right through the wall with his Heracles strengths. He punches at the Mask Merchant but there is more smoke and the Masked Merchant is gone. 
     "I'm not sure I fully understand what happened here," Hudson says.
     "Who was that dude? Was that the arms dealer himself?" King wonders.
    "He had the tech for it," Godling says. 
    "Do you think that teleportation thing he did was done by technology? Or was it some kind of magic stuff?" King asks Godling.
     "I'm not sure. Sir Magick could pull off stuff like that. But I figure a sorcerer wouldn't carry around guns. He would have blasted that guy with some kind of mystical bolts," Godling says.
      "Well, we still have some more thugs to interrogate," Hudson says.
      "I'm afraid not," Janson says as she walks into the room. "They were all killed in their cells. We have no idea how someone got in there."
      "Sounds like someone teleported in there as well," King says.
      "This guy is really a stone-cold killer. We have to track him down," Godling says.
     "Well, King... You're the detective... detect!" Hudson told his female colleague.
     "It's not like guys like these leave the usual sort of tracks," King says.
     "We'd better find some tracks before the city is overrun with these weapons though," Hudson says.

*
 The roof of a building in Lower Troy. Dober-Girl is lifting a bad looking dude up, telling him, "Where did you get the sci-fi gun?"
      "He's on a boat," the guy says. "Please don't hit me again."
     "You tell me more about the boat and I won't need to," Dober-Girl says.
     There's a cloud of smoke and The Masked Merchant steps from it.
    "What the--," Dober-Girls says.
    "The Masked Merchant! Help me," the guy says, happy to see the villain.
    "I just want you to be silent," The Merchant says and fires his gun, evaporating the criminal while he's in Dober-Girl's hand.
    "Creep!" Dober-Girl says and runs towards The Merchant, jumping up, ready to drop-kick him. There's a lot smoke however and the villain is gone.
    "How did he do that?" Dober-Girl wonders as she lands on her feet again. "Sounds like I've got some kind of lead though. I don't think this kind of job is my kind of job, though. I think I could use Godling's help here. But how do I contact him?"

*
New Troy PD, the interrogation room.
"I figure I could use some godlike tracking skills, like Ichnaea's. But for that I'd need some kind of tracks to follow. The way that villain teleported there's not much to follow," Godling tells King and Hudson.
     An officer walks in the room holding a phone. "Godling, it's for you. And tell whoever it is we're not your answering service."
     Surprised Godling takes the phone."Yes? This is Godling."
    "Hey, what a surprise," the voice on the line says. "This is Dober-Girl. I was hoping the cops would have a way to contact you. I wasn't expecting to be put through to you right awat."
    "I happened to be around. What do you need me for?"
    "We're both after the guy dealing those sci-fi guns, right? Well, I've got a lead on him but I just met him... And he teleported out of there after disintegrating the guy I was interrogating. That's kind of out of my usual ballpark. I figure I could just some help. I'm fast and strong, but I guess some godlike powers could help out a lot."
   "Tell me more about the lead."
   "He's on a boat. That's all I know. I figured you could search them all in no time with your superspeed though."
   "Sounds good. Meet me a the harbour," Godling says. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
  "@#$! , I'm not sure my bike is that $*%#* fast, but I'll try to make it," Dober-Girl says.
    "What was that?" Hudson asks Godling. "You were talking about a lead?"
   "Yes. I'll let you know when you can pick up the  bad guys," Godling says.
  "Wait a minute, we're still the police! You can't just leave us out of this like that," Hudson says.
  But Godling  is already gone, using the speed of Hermes.

*
The harbour. Dober-Girl stops her bike. Godling is already waiting for her, arms crossed.
    "Not a bad time," Godling says.
   "I practically damn flew," Dober-Girls says.
  "I just inspected the boats at superspeed and think I know which one is housing our villain," Godling says.
    "How did you do that?"
   "I walked with such speed I could walk over water. I also ran so fast the people on the boat didn't see me, just felt a gust of wind."
    "Damn, that's even faster than I thought you could be. So, now what?"
    "There was this one yacht that had a lot of extra special locks everywhere as well as a few armed heavies on board. Sounds like a no-brainer that's the one we're looking for. So I propose I fly us over there, kick their behinds, hand them over to the cops and destroy their weapons."
    "Hard to argue with a  solid plan like that," Dober-Girls says.
   "Good, hang on!" Godling says, scoops up Dober-Girl and flies upward.
   As they fly above the yacht The Masked Merchant appears on deck, shouting at his henchmen, "There! In the air! It's those damned superheroes! Shoot them down!"
    The henchmen pull their high-tech guns, plasma bolts and laserbeams shooting at the heroes. Godling has to do some fancy flying to evade their fire, and his grazed by a laserbeam. His arm smokes as he loses control of his flight, crashing down on the deck. Dober-Girl rolls across the deck, coming up with her dukes up and a grim snarl on her face.
     "Time to fight, creeps!" Dober-Girl says and runs into the bad guys, powerful fists striking, coming to close to the villains for them to use their guns. Teeth fly, blood spills, bones break as the kicks, punches and sometimes even bites her way viciously through the bad guys, who are totally overwhelmed by her ferocity.
      "I'm going to be the man who killed Godling. I'm going to be famous!" says one of the henchmen, aiming his gun at the fallen Godling.
      "Think again," says Godling as his wound heals. "I can heal any wound with the power of Aesculapus. And the speed of Hermes helps me do... this!" Suddenly Godling is holding the henchman's gun. He throws it in the water and punches the henchman after it.
     "I will kill you myself," The Masked Merchant says and fires his twin guns. Godling uses the speed of Hermes to evade the deathly rays as the disintegrate a part of the boat instead of the hero.
     "I'm here to stop you," Godling says and takes a swing at The Merchant who teleports away, ending up behind Godling. He fires his guns, but Dober-Girl tackles him. The rays go up in the air.
     Godling grabs the fallen Merchant and punches him so hard the mask flies off.
    "By Zeus!" Godling exclaims. "That explains why you can provide such high-tech weapons! You are Throx of the Council of War and Science!" (--Godling fought them before during the Reality Bomb saga, read #28-31)
    The bearded man behind the mask says, only half conscious, "Yes... I wanted to build an army so I could try to conquer this dimension again. Slowly, gathering money to buy the henchmen I would need."
    "And the others of the Council?" 
    "They were not behind me. They were sceptical of my plan."
    "Sounds like they were right about that," Dober-Girl says.
    "I think it is wise for me to go back to my own dimension," The Merchant says. There is a lot of smoke and Godling is left empty-handed.
    "Crap, he got away!" Dober-Girl says.
    "Yes, I hope he will stay away this time," Godling says.
    Then there's police helicopters in the air. A voice sounds, "This is the New Troy Police Department. Put up your hands and surrender." It's Hudson, sitting in one of the helicopters, holding an assault rifle.
    "You can relax, sergeant!" Goding yells back. "I think all bad guys are unconscious. You pack quite punch, Dober-Girl."
   "Thanks. But now it's time to show you how well dogs can swim," Dober-Girls says and jumps overboard, disappearing under water.
     "You are one mysterious girl, but I think we're lucky to have you," Godling thinks aloud.

END



More information about the racc mailing list