Mantle of Meracles #1

Strange stories are whispered in Juno, South Carolina. Floating objects, disappearances, videos on viewtube. Everyone knows a friend of a friend who has seen strange lights in the sky, felt all the warmth sink into the floor of an apartment and the like. Our story begins on a Saturday night. The city's fairly quiet in the area of St. Anthony park. A strange mist rolls in from the east. Neither stars nor moon can be seen.

There's a free concert tonight, featuring our heroes' favorite bands. Although the mist in unusual, it is thin and only hovers a foot and a half off the ground. Free pizza and beer are being offered. Rick and Rita, two moonlighting investigators manage to have a few drinks and about as many dances. The evening progresses. A lesser known band is allowed to play between the two primary attractions. The music starts out slow and the melody is odd. It's nice, but the star isn't singing any language spoken in the States. The spiky haired man lifts his eyes to the sky and stretches his hands to the cloud. The clouds break and a red moon shines down on the audience. The crowd murmurs.

The mist turns the color of dark wine and rushes into the nearby pond fifty feet from the stage. It diffuses into the body of water making the grass visible. The pond begins to emit an eerie glow. It's dim at first, but peaks to produce fountains of light. There's a bright flash and then the ground starts doing the hokey pokey. As the quake subsides, two figures step out of the pond. One looks like a sculpture made of rocks crowned with antler horns, the other a wispy bombshell with a purple halo. Rick and Rita recognize them as doppelgangers of their superhero identities, sporting opponent colors.

The light show fades and someone speaks out over the microphone:

"Such powerful magics drain even my mighty reserves."

The figure appears to be some kind of knight from a forgotten time, though he carries no weapon. His curly brown hair is the only normal thing about him, sporting a dark green mantle with black armor. Rick and Rita know him as Meracles the Second. Meracles steps down from the stage as though descending invisible stairs.

"I now return you to your enchanting evening with the garbage you call music."

The crowd prevents Rick from getting too close, while parting for Meracles. He sneers at the two heroes in turn and says just loud enough to be heard.

"Ta ta. I'll be seeing you again, <i>very</i> soon."

Meracles approaches the figures, giggling like a fifth grade girl. The two figures kneel and he touches both the figures on the shoulder. He whispers something and then continues on. The figures rise and follow him.

Rick and Rita make it through the crowd, but they're in their normal identities. Just as they proceed to follow him, Meracles appears to do a quick dance move and then there's a black out. It's not like the light faded to blackness. It's more like going blind after a quick blow to the back of the head. In any case, Meracles makes his escape with his two new henchman.

***
Will Rita and Rick figure out Meracles' next move? What havoc will he cause with two superhuman henchman? How will the next band follow up that act?

All this and more in the next page. See you in the funny papers.