Raccowrimo

GODLING #39

"The Fall of Godling part 2: Powerless! by J. Vandersteen" by jvdste...@gmail.com 

GODLING # 39:  The Fall of Godling part  2: Powerless! by J. Vandersteen 


- 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.
  


NEXT ISSUE: The All-New, All-Different Godling!