The Saga of Stella #9:

The Saga of Stella #9:

The Return of the Green Golfer!

In this issue the Minx’s first and greatest foe returns! Are you ready for the all-new, all-deadly Green Golfer?

Marcus Lycus

February 2008

If you want to use any characters in another story you need my permission. It also means that you can’t repost this story without my permission.

And since this story is meant for people over the age of 18, please don’t read it if you are younger than that.

Any resemblance between characters in this story and any actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental of course.

And finally, please e-mail me with any comments, complaints or suggestions. Remember feedback leads to more stories!

Issue 9 – The Return of the Green Golfer

“Mmm, that was wonderful Gregg.”

“You weren’t so bad yourself Gloria.”

The Minx sat up startled. She was naked in Gregg’s bed but, as always, she wore her domino mask. “How?”

“Oh… yeah… Opps. Kind of slipped out.”

“How long did you know?”

“I kind of figured it out after our first night. I mean we’d met a dozen times back at your dad’s place. And well, I’ve certainly gotten a good look at you.” He reached up and squeezed her breasts. She relaxed and lay down next to him, snuggling close.

“I guess it was silly of me to think you wouldn’t figure it out you big macho detective.”

“Well you’ve sure changed y’know. You’re not exactly that skinny little kid with her nose buried in a book. Took me a while to place where I’d seen you, and then it all clicked. You’ve sure uh, filled out.”

“Mmm, glad you noticed.”

“Course you know that this means, me and the Minx, we’re through.”

The Minx sat up again, rage just beginning to form on her face. Gregg reached up and pulled off her domino mask.

“Yup, from here on out I’m seeing another girl; plain old Gloria Barbarosa. No more of my girlfriend sneaking in my skylight, just nice normal dinners, movies and dates.”

The Minx smiled and kissed him.

“I dunno, this Gloria chick sounds kind of boring.”

“Oh I’m sure she’ll find a way to keep me interested.”

***

Across town Stella hovered above the city and watched in disgust. It just wasn’t fair! Gloria gets to sleep with anyone she wants and Stella couldn’t even touch a boy! She stamped her foot in midair. “Why do I have to have these powers anyway? Why can’t I be a normal girl? Even sometimes…”

Her mind wandered back to a few months ago when she was trapped in the Midnight Realm of the Moon Witch. She’d been normal there, but a powerless slave. If only there was some way to temporarily remove her powers, let her live a normal life…

She looked at the moon, it was almost full.

***

And by the bay a small police launch left Weisinger Penitentiary and landed at the docks.

“OK Arnold Nicklaus this is it, you’re free to go.”

“Good. Good. Been waiting for this a long, long time.”

“Well stay out of trouble, you go all ‘Green Golfer’ again and next time they’ll lock you up and throw away the key.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t find me on these links again.”

“Gotta say I was a big fan of yours before you flipped out. You going to go back into golf?”

“You might say I’ll be getting back into my old game…”

Arnold took a deep breath, the first free air he’d breathed in five long years. He flexed his arms, prison had changed him. His old paunch was mostly gone, so was the old carefree grin and mischievous attitude. In their place were layers of muscle from years of hard labor in the prison yard, dozens of prison tattoos and a grim mirthless smile of cruelty.

Across his chest he’d tattooed ‘Die Night Fox Girl! Die!’. It had caused some concern at his parole hearing, but he’d managed to convince them it was German for ‘The Night Fox Girl, The’.

Yeah.

He couldn’t believe the bought that either.

But tomorrow he’d make good on his promise.

And Night Fox Girl would die.

***

Who?

The Green Golfer – Years ago Arnold Nicklaus was the world’s greatest golfer until he was found cheating on the pro tour. Blacklisted from the game he loved, he turned his talents to crime with his trick clubs and exploding golf balls. He bedeviled Night Fox until he was finally put away by Night Fox Girl. – The Kirby Guide to Supervillains, 1970 edition

Got it? Back to the story then…

***

Sunrise back at Gloria and Lynn’s penthouse…

Gloria emerged from their secret elevator and yawned. Lynn Lewis was waiting for her.

“Hey Minx, did you go on patrol last night?”

“Oh, um hey Lynn. Actually I was uh, checking with one of my contacts y’know. Have to keep up relations.”

“Yeah, I know. You’re real busy, no wonder you’re so tired when you come home. Bet you got a real workout. Well I’m going out now, unless you want me to like dig some more tunnels or crush some diamonds or something.”

“Huh? Lynn, is everything OK?”

“Yeah. Fine. I’ll just go OK?” And Stella disappeared in a blur.

“What was that about?” The Minx was left wondering.

***

“Yeah, yeah hold your horses, I’m coming.” The blond woman opened the door and her jaw dropped. “Arnold?! Oh my God, you’re out! Um, what um, brings you here?”

“Hey Tee Time Girl, long time no see huh?” He pushed the small girl aside and entered the apartment.

“Yeah… yeah Arnold, long time no see… Been a long time since I was your hench-wench huh? I just go by Trudy now.”

“Nice place you got here Tee Time. Nice furniture, nice neighborhood, big TV. Must’ve cost you a bundle.”

“Um, yeah… I mean after you got sent up the river I was back at the 19^th Hole and there was all this loot…”

“So you decided to help yourself.”

“Well I…”

Arnold Nicklaus walked close to his old hench-wench and put a gentle hand on her cheek. “Now, now Tee Time Girl, why are you so scared? I mean you earned the loot right? And I hardly needed it where I was going did I?”

“Um, yeah, I mean no, I mean uh…”

“Really I just want two things from you.”

“Oh, um, okay. What’s that?”

WHAM! Trudy fell to the floor when the one-wood hit her head.

“Uh…”

“The first thing I want to know is; where’s my stuff? My weapons, my costume, where are they?”

“Uh…”

WHAM! Trudy’s head whipped to the other side when the one-wood slammed her again. “UPSTATE! “ She yelled. “They’re in a storage place upstate, I couldn’t sell them, they were too hot! The key’s in my desk!”

“Good girl Tee Time. And now there’s something else I want.”

“What? What? Just take it okay? Anything!”

“Anything? Good. I’ve been in prison a long time Tee Time.” He reached down and tore open her blouse. “A long time…” He tore off her skirt.

***

“So Stella was acting really weird today. All moody and stuff.”

The Minx was back in Detective Stanley’s bed.

“That time of the month?”

SLAP! “What a chauvinist thing to say! Pre-menstrual syndrome is a myth, everyone knows that.”

“That’s good, I’d hate to see what a PMS is like for a woman who can smash mountains. Is it true what they say about her? Woman of steel, man of tissue paper?”

The Minx shuddered at the sudden memory of Polly Path’s bloody body after an affair with Stellar Man. “I don’t think she’s ever tested that herself but, yeah. Pretty much.”

“Yuck. Y’know I was kind of into her when we first met.”

“Yeah cowboy, I could tell. Why do you think I showed up at your place?”

“I thought it was because of my animal magnetism?”

“Well that too…”

“Say Foxy, not that I mind having you here but are you planning on going on patrol again? The guys at the station have been noticing crime’s up lately.”

The Minx lay there in his arms, feeling safe and warm. Memories of being chained up in a vacant lot still fresh in her mind.

“Soon… ok?”

“OK Foxy, I know it was bad but you have to put it behind you. You just have to forget it.”

The Minx chuckled dryly. “Forget it?” She laughed louder, almost doubling over with her howls.

“Huh, what’s so funny?”

“Oh Gregg, come on, you know I can’t do that.”

“I know you had a bad night but-“

“No, no that’s not it, I mean I can’t forget. Anything.”

“Huh? Of course you can, I mean I know you’re smart but-“

“Twenty eight.”

“Twenty eight?”

“Twenty eight. That’s how many kids there were on my first day of kindergarten, seven of them were wearing blue sweaters that day, twelve of them green sweaters, three red, four white, two pink. I can tell you their names, their favorite colors and what was in each one’s lunch box. I can tell you what they were wearing on the second day of school. And the third. And so on.” She tapped her skull. “Photographic memory. It’s all up there, I just have to concentrate to retrieve it. When I was a kid I assumed everyone was like that. Really it wasn’t until I was 12 that I even understood the idea of forgetting things, how memory works for other people.”

“Wow that… that’s pretty far out.”

“Want to really see something far out? Sit up Gregg. Just watch.”

She stretched out on the bed and closed her eyes. He watched her breathing grow ragged, her nipples harden, her legs rub together. He could smell the juices flowing between them. Her back arched, her toes curled, her eyes squeezed together tighter than ever, low moans came out of her mouth. The moans came faster and faster, she crossed her legs, squeezing them tighter, her fingers clawed the sheets, she was gasping now, her breasts shaking with each moan.

Gregg could barely contain his raging erection.

Finally she cried out and relaxed. She opened her eyes.

“That was me replaying twenty minutes ago. It was like living through it again. In every wonderful detail.”

“Wow. So like, anything that’s happened to you…”

“Just about. Any fight I’ve been in, any fight I’ve seen, I can review and learn from.”

“So that night…”

“It’s up here. I’ve replayed it a dozen times and never figured a way out. And that’s what scares me. It’s not like I made a mistake, it’s not like I forgot something. I was just outnumbered. It was inevitable. If Stella hadn’t shown up when she did…” The Minx fell silent. A single tear ran down her cheek. Gregg put his arms around her and held her close.

***

Stella circled the woods outside the city, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Of course the moon wouldn’t be full for another night.

She wondered what she would do if she did see the spooky old house.

She didn’t know.

***

Arnold Nicklaus opened the storage locker and smiled. It was all there. His bag of trick clubs, his arsenal of smoke, explosive and gas balls, his lime-green plaid costume, even his hover tee. Everything that made him the Green Golfer was there.

He remembered the glory years. Robbing celebrity charity tournaments, stealing trophies, kidnapping his old rivals from the pro circuit, matching wits with the crafty crusader himself Night Fox. The 60s had been good to him. But then she’d butted in, Night Fox Girl. After he was busted by a girl no one respected him. His career as a theme criminal was over.

For five long years he had nursed his grudge, husbanded his hate. And now he was ready!

People tended to forget that no one had ever seen Night Fox Girl before she appeared at Wes Adams’ costume party, before she busted the Green Golfer. He could remember the look on her face, fear, fear giving away to excitement and then pleasure. This told Arnold something, Night Fox Girl wasn’t planning to be a heroine, she’d been just another guest.

She’d gone on to become quite the little heroine and was calling herself the Minx these days. Prison was buzzing with stories about her. How she was screwing a cop named Stanley. How the Wolf Pack gave her a good going over. About her overpowered protector Stellar Girl.

How it was impossible to take her out.

The Green Golfer smiled. It was like being back at St. Andrews, he just had to line up the angles, check which way the wind was blowing and take his shot.

He put on his bullet-proof argyle sweater.

***

Dawn came too soon for Gloria. She crawled out of Stanley’s bed and stretched. She reached for her lacy black bra.

“You really can’t keep doing this Gloria.”

“What?”

“Hiding in my bed. I know you did that little case down south, but you haven’t been on the streets in weeks and the criminals know it.”

“I… I’ve been doing stuff.”

“Gloria…” He stretched out her name into a nag.

“OK, OK… Tomorrow night. For real. Meet me on the roof just north of Kane Lane and you can watch me in action.”

“You mean it this time?”

“Yeah. I mean it.”

She pulled on her trademark coat and fired a diamond-tipped spike into his skylight. She frowned, the sun was already coming up, she tried to get out before dawn so no one would see her and link her to Detective Stanley. Which reminded her…

“Say Stanley, you haven’t told anyone about us have you?”

“Huh? Nope, not a soul.”

(Except for the guys down at the precinct and those guys at the courthouse and my buddy at Weisinger Penitentiary, he added silently. I mean I’m fucking the Minx, you can’t expect a guy not to share. But I can totally trust them.)

“OK, cause y’know, bad things happen to friends of superheroes. Polly Path was always getting kidnapped, same with Timmy O’Leary, I just, I just don’t want anything like that happening to you.”

“Gloria, I’m not some helpless kid, I’m a cop. I can take care of myself.”

“OK, OK macho man, just please, let’s keep this discreet.”

“You know it.”

They kissed and she disappeared through the skylight.

The Minx hurried across the rooftops, headed for the nearest tunnel entrance. She was in such a hurry she didn’t even notice the green-clad figure across the street. But he certainly noticed her moving away. Once she was gone he put down a tee, placed a ball, took out a driver and swung.

Stanley stood there for a long time with a dumb grin on his face. The Minx. The goddamn Minx was all his. He was the luckiest guy in Megapolis. Hell, he was the luckiest guy in the world!

He never even heard the gas ball glance off the skylight or smelled the chloroform until he passed out.

***

The Minx yawned as she stepped from the elevator into her penthouse. Stella was waiting there, looking annoyed.

“Hey Lynn, I’ve gotta hit the sack, I’m exhausted.”

“Yeah Gloria, you must be really tired after all that exercise tonight.”

The Minx scowled. “Were you watching me again?”

“You said you’d go on patrol.”

“I will… I meant to… I just got distracted. You know.”

“Yeah, I know. Must be nice to have those distractions.”

“Lynn…”

“I’ve gotta go, there’s still some debris on the west side for me to clean up.”

“Lynn listen, if you want to talk…”

But Stella was already gone.

The Minx yawned again and shook her head. “Crap, that didn’t go well at all.” She looked at the blue skies, there was no way to go after Stella. She looked at her bedroom. “Well I’m no good to anyone without sleep…” She headed to bed.

***

The Minx woke up around noon and stretched. She grumbled at herself for oversleeping. Even after getting to bed at 7 she should have been up earlier, she’d long ago trained herself to get by with 2 to 3 hours of rest each day.

After some quick exercises to wake herself up she turned to the computer printout on her desk. Her new computer down in the Minx Pad was constantly pulling data from the police wire and news services and printing it out upstairs.

She skimmed the depressing list of domestic violence and street crimes. It seemed everything was getting worse these days, crime was becoming another mundane part of life, she didn’t see anything interesting.

Then she saw it. A woman named Trudy Tyme, killed in an explosion at her apartment. Trudy Tyme, the name meant something…

Gloria closed her eyes for a minute, even her photographic memory needed time to work its magic.

“Tee Time Girl!” She cried aloud. “Trudy Tyme, alleged henchwoman for the Green Golfer was freed today due to lack of evidence.” She quoted from an old copy of the Megapolis Marvel. If she was killed in an explosion, then the evidence pointed to…

She flipped through the printouts looking for the list of paroled criminals and sure enough there he was. Arnold Nicklaus, the Green Golfer. Free for less than a day and he’d already killed once.

Despite herself the Minx smiled. It was good to have a purpose in life!

She called Gregg’s house to tell him the change of plans, they’d be hunting the Green Golfer tonight. But there was no answer. A call to the precinct only told her had the day off. She pouted. She’d have to wait till tonight to meet him. In the meantime she could spend the day memorizing the layout of every golf course in the city and studying the papers for any golf-related news that might give her a clue about Nicklaus’ plans.

***

Gregg groaned and opened his eyes. The world was upside down! And spinning! He closed them again and passed out.

The Green Golfer laughed. The tough cop was tied to the windmill at an abandoned miniature golf course outside of town. The Golfer practiced his putting through the spinning detective’s legs.

“Oh we’re going to have some fun tonight Gregg… but first you and I are going to have a long, long chat.”

The teed up another trick ball and putted it right into Gregg’s drooling mouth.

The trick ball released sodium pentothal right into his system.

“So Gregg, tell me all about little Foxy and her new career…”

“…meeting… tonight…” He began to mutter.

***

As the sun went down Gloria checked and rechecked her equipment. Since that night with the street gangs she’d doubled the number of rope lines in her bracelets and added several more dazzle gems and other weapons to her arsenal. She applied her lipstick again and checked her eye shadow. She smiled at the mirror. She looked powerful, confident, sexy. She looked ready.

Stella looked on disapprovingly.

Gloria couldn’t take it any more.

“Lynn, talk to me.”

“About what?”

“About anything, obviously something’s bugging you.”

“No, nothing.”

Gloria rolled her eyes but didn’t push the issue. She would have to wait until Lynn was ready. “Well you’ll be glad to know I’m going on patrol tonight, really going on patrol.”

“Are you seeing him?”

“Seeing who? Gregg? Yeah, we’re meeting near Kane Lane. The Green Golfer seems to be up to his old tricks and I want to bust him. There’s an abandoned miniature golf range outside of town he might using as a lair I figure we’ll check it out together.”

“Can I help?”

The Minx thought about it for a second but shook her head. “No Lynn, I mean you’re the one nagging me to get back out there and now I am.”

“Are you sure, cause I can use my stellar powers to find him and then-“

“Lynn, he’s the Green Golfer for Christ’s sake. I’ve been kicking his ass since I was a teenager!”

Stella sat silently for a while.

“He liked me you know.” She finally said.

“The Green Golfer?” The Minx was genuinely confused now.

“No, Gregg. I heard him say it.”

“Lynn! Were you spying on me?”

“He liked me and you took him away.”

“Lynn… Lynn I wasn’t trying to steal him away, I was just worried that…”

“What, that I’d crush him with my stellar pussy? You think I don’t know about that problem? I was there damnit! I saw Polly! I saw him! I know I can’t be with a guy!”

“Lynn…”

Stella was crying now “It’s not my fault! It’s not! Star and comets, I never asked for these stupid powers! And I can’t even kiss a boy cause I might hurt him with my stupid stellar breath or something!”

Gloria turned to hug her friend but Stella pushed her away. “Go! Just go and catch your stupid golf guy with your stupid boyfriend, I don’t care.”

“Lynn if I’d known how you felt…”

“What? You can’t do anything, you can’t help me, no one can. So go have some fun, it’s not your fault all I can do is watch.”

“Lynn…”

“GO! OK? Just go…”

The Minx looked at her crying partner, for the first time in a long time she didn’t have any answers. So she just lowered her head. “Lynn, let’s talk when I get back OK?”

“OK Gloria, OK.”

“I… I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

The Minx turned and jumped down her secret chute. She didn’t know what to say. She could point out that she’d seen Gregg first, she’d had a crush on him ever since she was a kid and met him at a police academy reception. But that didn’t address the bigger problem, Stella was becoming more and more isolated from the rest of the world and was blaming her partner. The Minx knew she’d have to address that problem soon.

She jumped on a bike and took one of her tunnels across town to Kane Lane, better known as Crime Alley. She hopped out of a manhole cover, fired a line to the rooftops and raced to her rendezvous point.

There was no one there.

She sighed and sat down on a gargoyle. “Minx, you’re really batting a thousand tonight. Pissed off your partner and now stood up by your boyfriend.”

Distracted by her woes she didn’t notice the golf ball shot from five blocks away. It bounced off a billboard, glanced off of the side of a building, deflected off the roof of a passing bus and finally hit the Minx squarely on the side of the head.

“OW!”

The ball landed on the rooftop and cracked open. It was a picture of Gregg tied to a mini-golf windmill and a note:

“Hello Foxy, long time no see. If you want to see your handsome detective friend again, meet me on the north tower of the Conway Bridge. And come along. One sign of your flying friend and Stanley goes right into the water trap. – GG”

“Oh shit…” Was all she could say.

***

Stella paced for a while watching the sunset and watching the full moon come out. It was time to decide. Stay or go?

She’d thought about it before, seeking out the Moon Witch’s house during a full moon but the last few days had clinched it for her. It just wasn’t fair that the Minx could sleep with all these guys and Stella couldn’t do anything. If there was even a chance that Lorelei Lune could help her turn off her powers for a while she had to take it. The witch had turned them off before, and besides she owed Stella. As she passed Kane Lane Stella noticed the Minx was just standing around on a rooftop.

“Figures, she’s not even going on patrol tonight.”

Stella could see a strange house in the woods now. Well it’s not like her friend was going to need her tonight.

***

“He has Gregg. He’s waiting for me. It’s a trap.”

The Minx repeated these facts for the tenth time. They hadn’t lost any of their impact.

She read the note again. It hadn’t changed.

“He has Gregg. He’s waiting for me. It’s a trap.” She repeated again.

She looked across town at the penthouse she shared with Stella. With just a word she could call the Girl of the Stars to her side. With all of Stella’s power how could they fail?

But that was the problem. She couldn’t rely on Stella. Gloria needed to prove to herself that she could take on real challenges without her nigh-omnipotent friend. And that meant doing this alone.

“Come on Gloria, it’s the goddamn Green Golfer. You’ve been kicking his butt since you were a teenager. You can do this alone.”

That made her feel better.

Besides, he wanted to meet her at the Conway Bridge. From the bridge tower he could see for miles, there really was no way her flying friend could sneak up on the villain. She had to do it alone.

She fired a line and headed for the river. She didn’t have much time.

brush and bucket in the corner. Bridge. She noted the suspension bridge was closed for construction, completely devoid of traffic. They’d be alone out there.

The lenses in her mask showed the Green Golfer on top of the north tower, he was standing on his hover tee, his bag of clubs and trick balls on his back. There was no sign of Gregg anywhere.

“No time like the present.” She muttered and fired a line at the south tower and stepped off into space. The clever mechanisms in her bracelet arrested her fall and she started to swing.

The Golfer saw her and laughed. ***

Stella stood in front of the spooky house for a long time. Once again her stellar sight was useless in penetrating it. But wasn’t that why she was here?

She opened the iron gate and stepped through.

She felt nothing. No sense of change, no magical tingling, nothing felt different. She looked behind, the city was gone. There was only a forest there. She swallowed, like it or not she was back in the Midnight Realm of the Moon Witch.

She picked up a rock and scratched the back of her hand, it hurt. She tried to look at China, she couldn’t. She tried to fly. Her feet remained stubbornly on the ground.

Yup.

She was powerless.

“OK, I’m just going to ask if I can get a potion or something. That’s it. Then I’m gone.”

She walked timidly down the path and opened the creaking door. “Hello?” She called. There was no answer. The house was the same as it had been. Like something from a Grimm fairy tale, filled with antiques, dust and cobwebs. There was a small fire burning in the hearth and a pot bubbling over it but no oer signs of life.

SQUEE-SQUEE!

“AH!” Stella jumped when a bat flew by her head. “It’s OK, it’s OK, it’s only a bat…” she reassured herself. “Oh why did I come, this is stupid, I hate being powerless, why did I do this?

SLAM!

“AH!” Stella jumped again when the door slammed behithnd her. She grabbed the handle and pulled, it wouldn’t open.

She pulled the curtains away from a window and tried to open that but it wouldn’t budge either.

“THIEF! THIEF!” She heard. “THIEF! THIEF!” The voices were coming from all around her, the picture on the wall, the statue on the shelf, even the teapot on the table were all yelling. Stella covered her ears but it wouldn’t stop. “THIEF! THIEF!”

The end of the curtain wrapped around her ankle, then her other foot. Entangled she fell to the floor. The curtain was like a snake, wrapping around her, pinning her arms, wrapping around her slender neck. Then the head reached down and met the tail, they pulled together painfully pulling the struggling, powerless heroine into a kneeling position.

“Well, well, what have we here?” A sweet voice asked. Stella caught sight of shapely leg descending the stairs. At first she could only see the pointy black slippers but then the jagged hem of a tight black dress appeared and finally the night-black hair and silvery face of the Moon Witch. Lorelei Lune smiled at her captive. “So, has my Serving Wench of the Stars returned?”

***

The Minx stood on top of a warehouse facing the Conway

“Time to tee off!”

His hover tee shot forward towards the swinging girl. He took out handful of trick balls.

“Hello Foxy, up for a game?” The swung his club and three explosive balls shot at the Minx.

“Crap!” She yelled and released the line going into free fall. The balls exploded along her former path hitting her armored coat with shrapnel.

“The Green Golfer is playing for keeps this time.” She whispered.

She fired another line to stop her fall and lowered herself to the roadway.

The Golfer swooped, releasing another barrage of bomb balls. The Minx easily dodged these and retaliated with a dazzle gem, momentarily blinding the villain. She fired a line at the north tower, her arm jerked and her bracelet started pulling her up the stone and steel structure. She twisted, planting her boots on the side and started running up the side.

The Golfer had recovered and flew back after her. More bomb balls flew but the Minx was ready. A laser diamond shot them out of the air, the Golfer barely dodged the red beam with his hover tee.

“The Minx is playing for keeps this time.” He whispered.

He headed for the top of the tower, the Minx close on his heels. He pulled the drugged and unconscious Stanley from his hiding place and rose into the air just as the Minx arrived on the top.

The heroine and the villain looked at each other.

“Let him go Golfer. I’m the one you want.”

***

“Lorelei!” Stella yelled. “Let me go! I’m not a thief!”

“Hmm, So familiar? I thought I told you to call me ‘mistress’.”

“Huh? We finished that! You let me go!”

“And now you’re back.”

“Yes, I mean no, I mean…”

Lorelei Lune bent down and lovingly stroked Stella’s long blond hair. She ran the back of her hand down Stella’s cheek. “You must have missed me so much. I certainly missed you. You seemed to so enjoy your time as my Stellar Cinderella. In your world you have so many responsibilities, so much pressure, but here in my Midnight Realm you are free from your cares and your only burden is please me.”

“I… no. No, that’s not why I came!”

“Really? Peasksay ruthlytay!” She commanded.

Stella gave a start, her lips started moving of their accord. “Really! I’m not here to be your maid! I don’t want to be your maid!”

“Oh…” For the first time the Moon Witch seemed disappointed to see the heroine. “So then, why have you come?”

“I just want a favor.”

“A favor? From me? What do you have to offer for that?”

“Um, I kind of saved your life remember?”

Lorelei cocked her head in thought for a minute. “But that was when you were obliged to serve me anyway. What have you done for me lately?”

“I…”

“As I thought. Well still, I did miss my Serving Wench of the Stars. Let me tell you what, let me offer a deal, serve me as my Scullery Maid of the Stars and then we can discuss this favor.”

Stella struggled again in her bonds. This wasn’t how she imagined things, not at all! She just wanted to talk! Why couldn’t things ever be easy for her? The curtain started to pull tighter, it was getting hard to breathe!

“No! I just want to get something!”

“Ah, so we were right the first time, you are a thief. Very well then, finish her.”

The curtain drew tighter still, Stella could barely speak now. “NO! WAIT! YES! Stars and comets yes! OK!”

“Excellent! The deal is done! Ellasay hangecay!” The Moon Witch waved her wand and Stella’s costume became a ragged blue and red dress. The curtain fell to the floor and slithered back onto the walls.

“I think you can start with the floors…” Lorelei gestured at the scrub

“OK, but it’s just for tonight right?”

“Hmm?”

“Serving you, it’s just for tonight.”

“Did we agree to that?”

“But…”

“We agreed you would serve me, and afterwards we would discuss a favor. You swore it on the stars and on the comets. I said nothing of the time you would serve.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t be forever. I imagine I will tire of you sooner or later but for now…” Lorelei giggled and gestured again “…the floors”.

“Stars and comets, what have I done?” Stella whispered.

***

“Let him go damn it. I’m the one you want Green Golfer. He hasn’t done anything.”

“Let him go? Fine by me!”

The Green Golfer gave the bound detective a shove, sending him tumbling off the Conway Bridge!

“Gregg NO!” The Minx screamed. Trained reflexes took over, her arm moved like a blur and a wire shot out of her bracelet aimed right at the falling detective’s leg.

“I’ve got to catch him, stop his fall before he hits the water! I’ve got to! I’ve got to!”

The wire wound around his ankle. The heroine braced herself against the impact. “Did it!”

There was a terrible SNAP.

Was it just the sound of the wire drawing taut? Or was it something else?

The mechanisms in her bracelet started to pull the wire back in. Her arm and legs were burning with the strain, it seemed to take forever. Finally his leg appeared over the side of the bridge, then his body and finally his head.

“Oh bracelet lines I love you! Not only am I the most stylish heroine on two legs, I…” Gregg didn’t seem to be moving.

“Gregg?” She asked. He definitely wasn’t moving. “GREGG!” She dropped to her knees cradling his body. She hugged his chest close to her face.

His head was at an impossible angle. There was no breathing, no pulse. He was dead.

“No… no… no… NO!” She screamed.

And then the Green Golfer whacked her over the head with a nine-iron.

Afterword

This story is, of course, based on the Death of Gwen Stacey, a classic Spiderman story from the 70s. The Minx’s lines in the last section are pretty much Spidey’s word for word.

But I don’t think the original story had a sub-plot with a lesbian witch. Consider that a bonus.

Next issue: The Minx in the Green Golfer’s hands! Stella in the clutches of the Moon Witch! And Gregg Stanley dead? What next?! Check out issue 10, it’s a modern day epic sure to be a classic!

And keep those cards and letters coming!

Marcus_Lycus@hotmail.com

PREVIOUS CHAPTER WIZARD'S LAIR MAIN PAGE NEXT CHAPTER