by Dan Swanson
Continued from Secret Origins: Strobe: Master of the Glow
Far from Earth, but no farther than a mystical spell, the Lord of Chaos known as Wotan sat on his throne, orchestrating his chaotic plots. Many were proceeding smoothly, while others were meeting not-unexpected resistance, but for the moment there wasn’t anything his lieutenants couldn’t handle — except for this new issue on Earth — Earth, which was always the most troublesome planet in his expanse. When everything was going smoothly, that was when he could always count on trouble on Earth.
Totally unexpectedly, a powerful ancient weapon had turned up in the hands of one who would use it in the cause of the Lords of Order. According to older Lords of Chaos, the Galactic Patrol had been completely destroyed millennia ago, and along with the Patrol, all examples of the Patrol’s signature weapons, the globe and glove that selected Patrolmen had used to control the power of the glow. One of the older Lords of Chaos had found a way to subvert the glow, so that each time a Patroller had used his weapon, his will was slowly diverted toward Chaos. Unfortunately for the cause of Chaos, the Patrol had discovered this evil malady while there was still time to stop it, but the good news was that, in destroying the infection, it was thought that all of the globes and gloves had been destroyed. Certainly the glow had not been seen in the galaxy since that ancient time. But now there seemed to be traces of the glow on Earth, the very seat of Wotan’s chaotic domain.
Wotan used his mystical senses to closely examine the Earth and indeed discovered a human wearing one of the fabled gloves of the Galactic Patrol — a man named Jim Chisholm, who lived near Seaside City. Chisholm had only recently come into possession of the glove and was still a novice at its use. Destroying Chisholm and his weapon would be trivial for Wotan, of course, but he wanted some entertainment. It was better to make a game of it. In fact, Earth itself would supply Wotan with the perfect pawns.
Casting a few spells, Wotan then sat back to watch and see what would play out.