Namor: The Sub-Mariner #4

[fan4]

Namor: The Sub-Mariner #4

World Tour, Part 1

Written by Mallet
Edited by Aaron Martel

Namor flew through the air with his speed at maximum, and the ground flew by below him at a similar speed, as his mind drifted to why he was on this strange journey. It had just been hours ago when Namor sat with the insufferable magician, Dr. Strange, in the den of what Strange called his “Sanctum Sanctorum”. The magician had filled Namor in on what he was supposed to do in order to get answers to what had happened to Atlantis in its King’s absence. He needed to collect pieces of the Destiny map, the same one Destim had collected, in order to have the power to see what Destim had done to his home. He had decided not to inquire about how the insufferable mage had gathered the information, some sort of dream divination more then likely. Instead, he took the spell weaver at his word, because that word had been backed by John Danvers, the man who had freed him from his stupor and had been the only decent surface dweller he had met since the breaking of that stupor.

Dr. Strange had informed him that through the same process that he used to gather the information of Namor’s past he used to find the pieces of the map. He was told the first piece lay in the swamps of Louisiana, protected by some sort of undead guardian and so he took off towards his target. Now he was finally approaching his target area when suddenly it seemed as though the very air ahead of him began to swirl and merge into waves of clouds. The Sub-Mariner halted quickly and gazed as the clouds formed into a face, a now very familiar face.

“What is it Strange?” Namor started curtly.

“You have entered the general area where I sensed the map piece,” the floating head spoke, “So now using you as my personal booster antenna I’ll try and heighten my knowledge of the location.” Strange’s head smiled at the look on the Sub-Mariners face. “Don’t worry I’m just channeling my powers through you to get a closer look…”

The head went silent for several minutes as the doctor went to work, the silence making Namor more uncomfortable then the giant floating head or being so high in the air. Namor’s impatience had reached a boiling point and he was about to voice his anger when the cloud-made head dissembled and then reformed into the shape of a large building, that seemed like a grand old mansion.

>>Here, Namor…<< Now Strange’s voice had migrated to his very mind. >>Here is your… map piece… village below.<< Strange’s voice sounded tired, as though he had been under great strain. Namor thought to reply but kept his tongue; the sooner he fetched the map piece and brought it back the better, and with that Namor flew towards the swampy ground.

[fan4]

Many of the houses seemed little more then shacks, their vehicles rusted and old; a far cry from New York, which, to the Sub-Mariner, now seemed like paradise. But as he flew he spotted something out of place: a vehicle seemingly without a spot on its black coat, driving down the road. Surely this machine belonged to the owner of such a grand mansion, as it definitely seemed far removed from the doldrums of this town. Sure enough, within mere minutes of following the vehicle, he found himself hovering over the mansion, contemplating his next move until the driver of his clue got out and opened the trunk of the car. In there lay, bound and gagged, a raven-haired beauty whom the oafish driver slung over his shoulder and then took inside with him, despite what could only be called furious kicks of protest. While Namor’s cause was urgent, his sense of honor demanded that he investigate and, probably, halt the proceedings in this manor.

He flew to a window to make sure he could catch the oaf off guard, and after he had set the woman down he hoped to cause as little collateral damage as possible. But the driver had not stopped, and instead took her up the stairs that lay central in the manor's entrance room. Namor noted his course and flew to the window of the room he expected them to step into. Glancing in, he saw a slightly bare though quite spacious office that even had its own closet. And there, behind an oak desk, sat the most corpulent surface dweller Namor had ever seen puffing on a cigar. He was dressed in the finest garments available for his size, and even had a bright gold chain around his neck that held the largest ruby Namor had ever seen. But his gaze was broken by the interruption of the driver coming in through the door.

“So, Layla, you thought you could escape,” said the obese man, “But I can’t allow that, especially not after how you’ve helped me so. After all, my brother and I now have such a better relationship, and with me in charge Garth Coffee is in much better hands…” The fat man laughed evilly as he looked down at the woman.

By now the gag had come loose enough for her to wedge it out and respond, “You tricked me, Stedman! You knew how easily manipulated I’d be after what happened to Simon! Just tell me… why?”

“My brother thought too little of me. He ordered me around so easily, I just wanted to return the favor. Besides, now I have my own personal muscle-Choppa here, of course.” He motioned to the driver who had carried her in. “In fact, I like him so much that I’ve decided I want more. I want to expand my business… maybe get into protection…” He snickered a little. “That’s why I kept you, and why I just had to get you back… Choppa, take her to the basement and get the paper ready.”

[fan4]

Choppa began to pick the woman up, but Namor had heard enough and plunged into the room before she was off the ground, a shattering window announcing his arrival. The three stood shocked at his arrival, but the Sub-Mariner wasn’t so still, and took advantage of their surprise by throwing Choppa out of the room in a single swift motion. Namor then calmly walked over and picked Stedman Garth up by his corpulent throat.

“Whatever you had planned it is through. The woman comes with me as well as a certain map piece,” Namor declared.

Stedman’s eyes went wide. Whoever this was knew about that paper he found; he’d have to kill him.

“Simon! Come Quickly!” Stedman gasped.

Namor was confused only briefly until the closet doors crashed open behind him and out approached what appeared to be a man caught in the stages of decomposition. His body was a pale blue-white with unhealed wounds no longer able to bleed, his eyes were deep and sunken in with no life. Only his tattered business suit and thick black hair gave the passing resemblance of his being alive once.

“Quickly my Zombie! Destroy him!” Stedman commanded, and the Zombie lunged for the Prince of Atlantis’s throat.

Namor tossed Stedman into a nearby wall and sent him into an unconscious state, but it was too late: the zombie had already been given it’s mission and moved for the kill. With supernatural strength, the zombie latched both hands around Namor's neck and moved in teeth first for a chance to rip out part of his opponent's flesh. But the zombie was not the only one with enhanced strength and quickly the Sub-Mariner threw the zombie off of him and into the wall near the entrance. He began moving towards his enemy when the Layla woman called out to him.

“No! Don’t hurt him!”

Namor turned towards her questioningly but the zombie suddenly lunged out, tackling the Prince through another wall and out of the building.

They hit the ground hard, only briefly taking the wind out of Namor, but the Zombie had no such troubles and crawled on top of the King of the Seas and began to relentlessly pummel him. Now Namor had enough and rose into the air from his prone position several stories, but even then the zombie took no heed, still attempting to beat him into submission. Namor merely turned to a standing position in the air and the zombie began to fall, but Namor grasped him by the wrist and held him aloft. Even then, though completely at his opponent's mercy, the zombie lashed forward to strike him down.

“Such a savage beast as you must be put down before you can be made to harm any one else,” spoke Namor.

But before Namor could release him, a call came from the opening in the building. “No! Please, it’s not his fault!”

Namor looked down to see Layla holding Stedman's ruby necklace. “Here, just put this on him and you’ll see!” she begged.

Namor did as he was asked and, after flying down to retrieve the ruby, placed it upon the zombie's neck while still having him in an arm's length choke.

Something seemed to sparkle in its dead eyes, and to Namor's astonishment the zombie spoke, “Where am I?”

[fan4]

The explanations came quickly after that. Simon Garth had inherited the family coffee company over his brother Stedman. Stedman had not been let go though; Simon gave him one of the family's other farms to run, where he found a piece of the map. Stedman turned to the only person he knew who could hopefully decipher it and tell him how much it was worth: Layla, Simon’s wife. While she couldn’t actually decipher it, she did tell him of its magical properties and, once she got going, her own voodoo family history. The tales of zombies intrigued Stedman, and in his lust for money and control of the company that he felt was his, he got Simon killed. Then, Stedman convinced Layla to use her power and the map piece to bring him back, but, as his body was dead, his soul had to be held in another container: the ruby necklace. But Stedman seized the necklace, and with it, control of the zombie. A terrified Layla, realizing what she had done, set out to get help.

The two would take care of Stedman how they saw fit and, since no one had actually reported Simon dead yet, Simon would be able to run things without being seen until they could work something out. Namor, for everything he had done, was gladly given the map piece, and he wished the two well before continuing on his journey.

Suddenly, Namor heard in his head, >>Well done, Namor! You handled that well.<<

Namor rose silently and thought back curtly, >>Where to now, Strange?<<

To be continued