Blue Light Productions presents
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| BLiP | | | | | | -|-- | | o |
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| #26 | | | | | | | | | | | \ | | | | | | |___
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[The cover shows the Alt.Riders on a dais, surrounded by a crowd of
people who have raised glasses, toasting them.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Speeed, Part III"
/----------------------------------------------/
| The city of Got.ham cordially invites |
| THE ALT.RIDERS |
| to dine at the Got.ham Plaza, on |
| TUESDAY, 7PM |
| |
| We look forward to the pleasure |
| of your company. |
/----------------------------------------------/
_-~-_
"Can't say I ever expected to be invited back here," Rick muttered, as he
got out of the limousine outside the Got.ham Plaza. "We haven't exactly
got a proven track record."
"From what you said, that Speeed person completely thrashed you," the
Net.Elementalist pointed out bluntly. [In _The Alt.Riders #24_ - Footnote
Girl] He fiddled with the bow tie, but Marsha knocked his hand away and
straightened it. It felt weird to him to actually be wearing clothes. His
normal black costume was fit enough for any occasion, but Agent had
insisted. It was easy enough for Rick to look fine, all he had to do was
morph on a tuxedo.
Marsha looked simply gorgeous in the black dress she wore, which
showed off her own dark-skinned body to great effect. Her coiffed hair was
the height of the latest fashion, even though it did look, as Rick so
eloquently put it, like someone had just bunched the hair on her hair and
tied it up with a rubber band. It wasn't often she got the chance to
demonstrate her more refined upbringing, and she was milking this for all
she could get, which included wearing a pendant that had earned her quite
a few appreciative glances from men already, although that was probably
more from the pendant's location than the pendant itself.
Agent looked excessively dapper as he helped Missy out of the limo.
No-one was sure if he had spent a few hours with a tailor getting it just
right, but the man knew how to wear a tux.
Missy didn't have the typical body type for these sorts of events,
being nearly as wide around as she was tall, but she and Marsha had done
their best. The dress was of a lighter blue than her skin, and it swept
around her regally as she moved. Her normal cap was replaced with a white
brimmed soft black hat, which she didn't particularly like, but it was
better than being without any head wear at all, and that just wouldn't
happen.
Agent took Missy's arm as they entered the Plaza, and Marsha looked
around discretely to see who would take hers. The Net.Elementalist showed
no signs of even being interested in looking at her, but Rick moved in to
offer his. Smiling, Marsha wrapped her arm around his, and they walked in
together.
"You look stunning," Rick said, out of the corner of his mouth.
"Thank you," Marsha replied.
"Just please don't change into Peter this evening. That would be more
cleavage than I want to know about."
This jibe earned Rick an elbow in the ribs, but all jokes were
forgotten as they entered the building.
The inside room was glittering, several chandeliers providing light
that gave the room a bright but soft feeling. Light music played in the
air, and people milled about on the floor. Lots of people. Lots and lots
of people.
Marsha could see the main dining room beyond, which looked even more
ostentatious than this one, but for now the sight of all these people gave
her pause. Silence had fallen as the Alt.Riders entered, and they were
immediately the focus of the gathering.
Fortunately, Commissioner Hamilton quickly joined them, and he
started shaking hands. "I want to personally thank you for coming here. We
know the last time you were here we didn't exactly welcome you with open
arms, and I for one want to extend my deepest apologies. We called in your
help, so there is no excuse for our rudeness. I just hope you can see your
way clear to forgive us all."
"Certainly," Agent accepted graciously. "Think nothing of it.
Although this evening certainly doesn't go amiss."
They shared a brief polite laugh, then the ice was broken. "Drinks
for our guests," Commissioner Hamilton ordered, and a waiter came forward
with a tray of waiting champagne.
"Allow me," said Agent, sweeping two glasses off the platter,
distributing them to Missy and Rick, then quickly grabbed two more. As he
passed them to the Net.Elementalist and Marsha, he hissed "Drink nothing.
I'll let you know about the food later."
Marsha opened her mouth to complain about this, but Agent was already
gone, leaving her holding a glass but unable to take a tempting sip. She
and Rick shared a sigh, then they moved into the ensembled mass.
Moments later, Chief Repp appeared by Marsha's side. "Excuse me,
ma'am. Would you like to come with me? One of the very honoured patrons of
our city has asked to meet you." Marsha was surprised by this, but quickly
assented.
However, as they drew close, Marsha recognized the person she was
about to be introduced to, and her mouth grew dry, forcing her to take a
sip of champagne despite Agent's warning.
"Well, let me introduce-" Chief Repp started, but got no further.
"Hello, mother," Marsha said frostily.
"Good evening, Marsha," Lady Burgenstock responded, with no small
hint of condescension in her voice. "You're looking well." Despite
herself, Marsha had to also concede that her mother also looked well, the
dress she wore a simply exquisite number in lace and silk.
Chief Repp looked between the two women, completely thrown by this.
"Uh.. mother?" He looked from the dark-skinned younger woman to the
extremely fair-skinned older woman, unable to make the connection.
"Yes indeed." Lady Burgenstock spared a glance at the chief. "Do give
us a moment, please Chief," she ordered.
"Of...of course." The chief gave a small bow, then gratefully melted
into the crowd.
"Well, you've certainly made your place in this world," Lady
Burgenstock said.
"I have to say I'm surprised to see you up and about," Marsha
replied, matching Lady Burgenstock's mock-civility. "You were so
bed-ridden last I saw." [See _World Tales Annual #1_ for their history. -
Footnote Girl]
"Oh child, you are still so young in so many ways," Lady Burgenstock
sighed. "But, come, this is your night. You should be enjoying yourself."
Marsha raised an eyebrow at this. "Have you been...enjoying
yourself?" she asked, throwing a glance at Lady Burgenstock's half-empty
glass.
Lady Burgenstock's eyes hardened momentarily, but she let none of
that show in the words she said. "Such a witty comment, I'm sure. But
there are others you must meet. I have come to know quite well so many
people here."
"Yes, I hear you've been patronizing this city," Marsha said,
deliberately mispronouncing the word.
Before Lady Burgenstock could retort to that, Agent arrived at
Marsha's side. "Marsha, you simply must introduce me to this charming
creature."
Marsha closed her eyes and suppressed a shudder. Why now? "Agent,
this is my mother, Lady Burgenstock. Mother, this is Agent, our...leader."
Agent bent down over Lady Burgenstock's outstretched hand, kissing it
gently. "You have my thanks, Lady Burgenstock, for producing such a fine
daughter. She is certainly as asset to our team."
"Why thank you... Agent was it? You do seem to have such interesting
names," Lady Burgenstock replied.
"We get by. I would be deeply honoured if you would do me the service
of letting me introduce you to the rest of the team." As Agent led Lady
Burgenstock away, Marsha wondered if he had been ignoring his own advice
about the drink. At this point, Marsha certainly needed something.
Draining her glass, she quickly went in search of a refill.
The next few hours were hell for Marsha. The food looked pleasing enough,
but in the presence of her mother it was all she could do to pick at the
plate she had, and had trouble forcing even nibbles of food down.
The Alt.Riders were on display at the front of the room, a raised
platform holding the table and them, the Commissioner, the Chief, her
mother, and a few other dignitaries whose names Marsha couldn't remember.
Fortunately, her mother wasn't directly in her line of sight, but Marsha
could easily make out the tinkling laugh she had when out in society,
"Are you feeling all right?" Rick asked, leaning over to speak
quietly to her.
"Yeah, just a mild headache," Marsha replied, although that wasn't
the best way to describe the throbbing migraine her mother caused. "I'll
be all right once we get out of here."
"That could be a while yet," Rick said. "We've got speeches yet."
And speeches there certainly were. Commissioner Hamilton went on for
nearly thirty minutes about how the Alt.Riders graced the city with their
presence. Then, of course, her mother had to speak, and Marsha wondered if
she could excuse herself to the bathroom and not come back.
If there was any consolation, the Net.Elementalist looked to be
enjoying himself less than she was. He didn't even try to hide the scowl
on his face, looking more like he wanted to raze the building to the
ground, and the people in it. At the moment, Marsha might be inclined to
help him.
Fortunately, the last speech was Agent's (and she was extremely
relieved by the fact that she didn't have to speak). Unfortunately, there
was no sign of an end to his speech, and after an hour the other guests'
faces were starting to glaze over.
Agent finally drew to a close, to first hesitant, then rapturous
applause as people realized they would be able to go home soon.
"Thank you, Agent," said Commissioner Hamilton, taking the floor once
more. "For that very...effusive speech of thanks. And now, ladies and
gentlemen, if I may ask one more show of appreciation, we can bid the
Alt.Riders good night, and be ready for another day of hard work
tomorrow."
Marsha was a little thrown by the call to work, but was soon
overtaken by a feeling of unworthiness as the entire room rose to thank
them. Although they had come to help, there was nothing they had done to
deserve this.
As Marsha left the Plaza for the hotel next door, where they were
staying for the night, she was surprised by the fact that it was only 3
o'clock in the morning. Surely, the sun would be rising by now?
But as she collapsed into the bed in her hotel room, unconsciousness
took her so quickly she didn't even have time to think of how her new
dress would get wrinkled.
_-~-_
The Net.Elementalist, however, wasn't in his room. He was feeling wired
from all the sitting around he had been doing, and need to burn some
energy off. He started by activating his flame powers and burning the
tuxedo off. Feeling free once more, he used his thread abilities to shoot
out lines of matter to connect to a nearby building, using the
coordination of muscles in his body as he pulled himself along to get some
exercise.
He was swinging through a deserted part of town, when something cut
the line he was using. Barely changing to net powers in time, he landed
with a slight bump, but was quickly on his feet again, looking for the
culprit.
Something brushed past him, and he turned to nearly see something out
of the corner of his eye. The something brushed by him again, this time
knocking him to one side.
Switching to flame, the Net.Elementalist surrounded himself with an
aura of fire, and this time the something just caused a tail wind that
made the flames flutter, but didn't touch him.
"Who's there?" the Net.Elementalist asked, but got no reply. He could
still tell something was rushing around, so now was the time to deal with
it.
Switching back to net powers, the Net.Elementalist lagged a large
area around him, and suddenly a figure came into view. Despite the power
the Net.Elementalist was now pumping out, the man walked towards him at a
normal pace. Based on what he had been told, there was only one person who
would be moving fast enough to counter his own lagging ability.
"Hello, Speeed," the Net.Elementalist said, the hint of a growl in
his voice.
Speeed continued walking at a normal pace, knowing that stopping now
would mean death. "Impressive," Speeed replied. "Not many could take me
on, but you just might. Well, depending on whether or not you've got
anything else that can touch me."
"I got plenty," the Net.Elementalist responded, changing over to
flame to send a fireball in Speeed's direction. But Speeed was long gone
by then.
Irritated, the Net.Elementalist changed to net again.
"I don't think you've got much at all," Speeed said, back to walking.
Unfortunately, the Net.Elementalist had to acknowledge that Speeed was
right. Trying to be more offensive would mean dropping the lagging field,
which was the only thing making Speeed a viable target.
"As long as I'm like this, you haven't got anything either," the
Net.Elementalist returned.
Speeed appeared to mull this over. "Maybe. Maybe not. On the other
hand." Speeed walked up to the Net.Elementalist, who positioned himself,
ready for an attack.
Speeed grabbed for the Net.Elementalist with his left hand, which the
Net.Elementalist knocked out of the way, allowing the right hand to grab
him arm. A moment later, the Net.Elementalist felt a prick as something
was injected into his body.
The Net.Elementalist got as far as "You fu-" before passing out...
_-~-_
Rick looked up from the breakfast table to see Peter sitting down opposite
him. "Marsha not joining us this morning?"
Peter merely raised an eyebrow and gestured to himself to plainly
show that, no, Marsha was not joining them this morning.
Rick gave a small nod. "Well, yes, okay, but any reason?"
Peter shrugged. "Just tired."
Agent turned the page of the newspaper he was reading. "Any seen the
Net.Elementalist?" he asked casually.
Rick, Peter and Missy looked around each other. "Guess not," Rick
finally said.
Agent folded up the newspaper and placed beside his empty plate. "No,
and there's no sign of him in here."
"You expected there to be?" Rick asked.
"If he had done something stupid last night, yes," Agent replied
evenly.
Missy picked up the paper from Agent's side. "It yesterday paper,"
she commented.
Without skipping a beat, Agent raised a hand, and said over his
shoulder. "Waiter, can we get today's paper here please?"
"Of course, sir," came the reply.
Although Peter and Rick were both smirking, the smile soon faded as
Agent turned to face them, then looked down to see today's newspaper on
the plate before him. It was folded to show a photograph of them from last
night's gathering. Only they were all sure that the Net.Elementalist
hadn't had a large X on his face at the time.
"Either that waiter is very good," said Agent, not looking around,
"or there is someone else around here that is very fast."
Peter closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating. Sensing movement,
Agent's arm snapped around and clamped on a wrist. They turned to see that
it was, predictably enough, Speeed, who was holding out a piece of card
for them.
"Ah, yes, he isn't the only one that can do that," Speeed said, no
sign of strain in his voice. "Don't worry, I'm not here to steal any
jewellery this time. I have another invitation for you."
Speeed threw the card onto the table, where they could all see it.
/----------------------------------------------/
| The city of Got.ham cordially invites |
| THE ALT.RIDERS |
| to join the hunt for |
| THE NET.ELEMENTALIST |
| |
| We look forward to the pleasure |
| of your company. |
/----------------------------------------------/
Agent frowned, and let Speeed go. A moment later, they were alone
again.
"What was that for?" Rick asked. "You had him!"
Agent picked up the card, studying it. "There's something bigger
going on here. I think we'd better gear up."
"The Net.Elementalist in trouble?" Missy asked.
"I don't think there can be any doubt about that," Agent replied.
"How we find him?"
"Did you bring any mystical detectors along?"
"Not fit in dress pocket," Missy apologized.
Meanwhile, Rick had picked up the paper. "I don't think he'll be too
hard to track down." He turned the paper to show them one of the
headlines: BODY OF SUPERHERO FOUND ON DOCKS.
_-~-_
Down at the docks, they were meet with a mob. There was a crime scene in
place, but it was hard to get to it due to the large crowd of people that
had gathered. Morph extended his legs to get a better view, but it just
showed how packed the area was.
"What is happening here?" he asked generally as he rejoined the
others.
"It's a miracle!" a nearby woman screamed. "He has been ascended into
the presence of God!"
This set off a chain reaction of screaming "A miracle! A miracle!"
"Praise to God!" "We shall all bask in his presence!"
However, this didn't last as a sphere of silence quickly expanded
over the crowd, leaving the crowd to open their mouths wide, but with no
sound escaping.
Agent nodded thanks to Dva, then started pushing. Not really caring
about the people around them, he shoved them out of the way, only to meet
Chief Repp doing a similar activity on his way to them.
The chief tried to explain to the Alt.Riders what was happening, but
soon realized the futility of that endeavour. Motioning with his hands, he
led the Alt.Riders to the crime scene itself, helped by the presence of
other officers.
After crossing the barrier, sounds slowly became audible, then full
hearing returned as the crowd was left behind.
"I'm sorry about that, sirs," Chief Repp said. "It's just that what
happened was so strange, most of the people are convinced it's a miracle
and want to be in the same place."
Agent nodded. "I'm aware of the phenomenon, but what did happen? The
paper said that a body was found?"
"That's right, but whoever got that article out didn't get the full
story. We got a report of a body on the docks that fit the description of
that other guy in your team..."
"The Net.Elementalist," Agent supplied.
"Right. We arrived, and found that indeed it was him, and called for
an ambulance. He wasn't dead, but he was sure out to the world. But
then..."
"Yes?" Agent prompted.
"There was...a kind of wind. Something blew through us, and
then...then he was gone! Vanished! We looked all over, but there was no
trace of him or anyone else. When that story got out, well, you can see
for yourself what happened then."
"Quite." Agent glanced at the others, but it was obvious they were
all thinking the same thing. "If you'll excuse us, we'd like to look
around ourselves first."
Chief Repp nodded, and left to try to once again disperse the crowd.
"Why would Speeed take the Net.Elementalist's body?" Rick asked the
obvious question.
"More importantly," Agent said. "Where? With his speed, he could have
moved him to another city by now."
Missy suddenly pointed. "There he..." but trailed off uncertainly.
"What?"
"Thought saw Speeed," she said. "But he gone now."
"He's playing with us," Rick said.
"Spread out," Agent ordered. "But be careful. Speeed has all the
cards at the moment."
_-~-_
Morph found Speeed first, although it was hardly the prize he wanted. He
caught sight of Speeed checking a door, rattling the knob to make sure it
was closed, then walked away.
Rather than follow Speeed, which was a ridiculous idea, Morph decided
to check out the building Speeed was interested in. Literally slipping in
through the cracks, Morph reformed on the other side to find himself in a
storage facility. Large cargo containers were piled high, forming a maze
of corridors in which Morph quickly got lost.
Each container could possibly contain the unconscious
Net.Elementalist, and Morph sent out several tendrils with photoreceptors
into the containers around him. It took a lot of concentration, which
easily exposed him to being hit.
The blow smashed across the back of Morph's head, sending him
staggering. Fortunately, he wasn't in any firm shape, so it was more the
transfer of kinetic energy than actual impact that pushed him down.
Pulling himself together, he whirled to see what he could only make
out was a leg vanishing into one of the containers. He reached out to prod
the place where the leg was, but only found cold metal.
Hardening his skin, Morph prowled the maze as quietly as he could,
straining his ears for any sound of his attacker. Creaks of metal
expanding and contracting fulled his senses, but nothing gave away secrets
of what he really wanted.
Expanding his frame, he tried a different approach. Attaching himself
to the ceiling, he stared back towards the floor, and soon found success.
Something in black was moving around the far side of the room, and Morph
ran across the roof, sticking/unsticking his feet as he went, and leapt
down to where the figure was about to appear.
As indeed the figure did. Unfortunately, this didn't mean that Morph
made contact with it, as he passed right through the man in black, as he
could now see it was, and crashed into the floor.
Morph managed to roll out of the way as the man reached down, barely
seeing something flash in the man's hand. He reached out to knock the
man's hand away, but again passed right through it.
It did occur to Morph that as long as he passed through the man, the
man couldn't exactly do anything to him. Still, that wasn't the best
recipe for catching this guy.
The key was the hand. If the man was trying to get him, he would have
to become solid some time. The man was standing there, hands raised, ready
to move, but static for the moment. Taking his chance, Morph reached out
and engulfed the man's hands, forming solid balls around them, ready to
move as the man did.
It didn't occur to him until too late that this was exactly what the
man wanted. Morph felt something shatter within his "hands", and a
numbness flowed towards the rest of his body.
Morph tried to change his shape enough to isolate the affected areas,
but passed out in mid form...
_-~-_
Dva was checking out the area underneath the wharfs when he saw Speeed.
The air was gloomy, and fill of the smell of salt. Water gurgled around
pillars, and Dva had to be careful least he soaked himself.
It was the wave that gave Speeed away. Although Dva didn't see Speeed
directly, there was a cut slashing across the sea that created a tiny
tidal wave as his wake.
Dva watched as the cut curved around to disappeared under the wharfs
further along, and he made his way in the direction as quickly as he
could. Unfortunately, he was unable to avoid the water entirely, thus his
leg was dripping as he finally reached where he thought Speeed was.
There was no sign of him at the moment, but Dva spotted a groove in
the timbers that created walkways around him. Following the track, it led
to a locked door, which Dva rattled futilely.
Turning around carefully, he looked for a way up, and started walking
before being pushed into the water.
He sank fast, caught by surprise, but also touched bottom. Quickly,
he launched himself towards the surface, and barely made it before his
lungs forced him to take a breath. Gasping, he looked around, but couldn't
see Speeed anywhere, but that didn't mean he wouldn't be attacked any
instant.
Cranking up his dampening field as far as he could and still move
around easily, Dva clambered out of the water. He paused to attempt to
rinse the water from his outfit, but it was only a token effort.
Something caught his eye, and he spun (nearly falling into the water
again), and saw Speeed running at him. Dva would never be able to lag
people like the Net.Elementalist could, but that didn't make him
completely useless.
Dva readied himself, and as soon as Speeed got near, Dva reached out,
grabbed Speeed, and threw him away with his best faux-karate move. Dva
gave a small smile as Speeed fell into the water this time, but the sound
of a splash made him spin around again, to see Speeed rising up and coming
at him again from another direction.
Taking a breath, Dva went to his most offensive tactic, but it was
something he didn't want to have to do. Focusing as much as possible, Dva
reached out and dampened Speeed's life force as far as he could.
Speeed dropped immediately, tumbling and collapsing onto the
walkways. With a final twitch, Speeed fell into the water again.
Dva instantly dropped his power again, panting as he felt the drain
of his own abilities, and went down on his knees as he tried to get some
strength back. As soon as he could, he staggered over to where Speeed had
fallen in, and looked into the black water for some sign.
A footstep made him twist his head around, then Dva was slapped on
the forehead with something as Speeed also covered him with water again.
Dva's conscious sank into blackness as he once more fell into the water...
_-~-_
When Agent saw Speeed, Speeed was, for a change, walking. Agent hid in the
shadow of the nearest building, eyeing Speeed as he moved about, dripping
water for some reason.
Speeed entered a shed, stayed for only a moment, then walked away
again. Agent wanted to keep following Speeed, but knew he had to check out
the shed first.
The door was locked, but Agent simply pulled, and the door was forced
open. Inside was dark against the sunlight outside, and it took Agent a
moment for his eyes to adjust. It was compact inside, not much more than a
workstation where a small boat could be worked on.
However, instead of a boat, was a table. And on the table was a body,
covered by a sheet. It wasn't the Net.Elementalist's shape, but that
didn't mean that this person wasn't worth saving. On the other hand, Agent
wasn't feeling terribly inclined to help either.
Agent reached out to touch the sheet, then froze as the sheet
collapsed, as if the body disappeared. Moving more by instinct than
conscious thought, he jumped back, avoiding the arm that shot out from
underneath the table.
He poised, curious, as he saw a man in black stand up through the
table. "And what do they call you?" he murmured, not moving just yet,
waiting.
The man was also inclined to pause. "Call me Fade," he said, with a
slight accent, making it sound like "Fay-de". "I am here to introduce you
to God." (Gawyd.)
Right. So, some form of insanity, Agent assessed. "And what is your
God?"
"Not mine. Ours," Fade corrected. Fade took a step forwards, making
Agent take a commensurate step backwards.
"I don't think you want to meet mine," Agent responded. "You wouldn't
survive it."
Fade took another step. "Why are you worried? You will become one
under him."
"Is that why you are attacking us? Why you drew us here? Because it
is so wonderful that the only way to get us to join is to trick us?"
"You do not know the ways of God. The good people of this city do.
You feel the need to fight." (Fy-ight.)
"I feel the need to retain my own sense of self," Agent replied,
taking a step towards the door. "I don't think your God preserves that."
"Our God is wonderful. And now you will come to know him." Fade took
a final step forward, making Agent break for the door. Agent made it to
the door, opening it quickly, stepping through and slamming it shut behind
him.
However, that mattered not to Fade, who simply stepped through the
door as Agent closed it. Reaching up, Agent couldn't stop him from
touching something to his face.
Agent could feel drugs flow through his system, but he was tougher
than that. Simply choosing to ignore their effect, he turned and walked
away from Fade, there was nothing he could do to the man.
It was on his fourth step that Agent staggered and fell onto one
knee. His thoughts became fuzzy as he attempted to understand how this was
possible. Nothing could affect him. Nothing...nothing...
_-~-_
When Missy saw Speeed loitering outside a building, she called out to him.
"Speeed!"
Surprised by this straight forward tactic, Speeed moved over to her
side. "Yes?"
"Where the Net.Elementalist?" Missy asked.
"You know, the others tried to follow me around, find out where I'd
been," he said.
Missy shrugged. "But you know where he is."
"Yes," Speeed confirmed. "But why should I tell you?"
"Because you want us follow you."
Speeed looked at Missy, re-appraising the fat blue woman before him.
"Right. Follow me."
Missy fell in behind Speeed as he walked through the buildings,
leading the way away from the wharfs, and towards the business district of
town. "Where we going?" she asked.
"We're going...to meet God," Speeed replied.
"Any God in particular?"
"Our God."
Missy blinked. "I have God?"
Speeed nodded. "He is everyone's God."
"I never heard of God before."
"He has only recently come into Godhood, but already his presence is
wonderful for us."
Speeed entered a theatre that was otherwise closed for business.
Missy looked at the posters advertising old shows with interest. The
cultural side of this world was one she hadn't had a lot of time to study
yet.
In the main area, long rows of seats lead down to a stage. There was
a figure on the stage, but Missy couldn't make it out yet. It bobbed up
and down in the air, but Missy couldn't see any visible means of support.
"He God?" she asked.
"Yes," Speeed breathed, awe and reverence in his voice.
As they descended towards the stage, the figure could easily see
them. "Come to me, my child," the voice reached out to her.
Something about the voice struck a chord in Missy's mind. As she drew
closer, she realized that something about the figure was familiar to her
after all. But what?
"Our God," Speeed said. "Isn't he wonderful?"
The figure became clearer, and memories became firmer. She remembered
meeting this person before, in Phila.DEL.phia, in a club, where he had
been drugging people. [In _The Alt.Riders #7-9_ - Footnote Girl]
However, this person didn't remember her. She could see him smiling
at her benevolently. "Come into my presence." He held out a welcoming arm,
a metal arm that glinted in the lights on the stage.
Another memory, this time of encountering this person in the desert,
when he tried to destroy the world as it turned 2000. [In _The Alt.Riders
Year 2000 Special_ - Footnote Girl]
"Tell me everything," he said. "Confess to me."
Missy finally put a name to the person:
"Drake. Emanual Drake. Mandrake."
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NEXT ISSUE: Emanual Drake is God! And he wants to hear your confession...
CREDITS: Mine.
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