BORN ON A MONDAY

Part II

By Tobias Christopher

Several Decades Earlier

Cyrus Gold was a man in his thirties with shortcut black hair, green eyes, and a nice business suit. His brother, Marty, however, was the exact opposite. He was in his early twenties and had shaggy red hair, a goatee, and dressed very casually. And as with every meeting between the two brothers, it was Cyrus who had to get his brother out of trouble yet again.

Cyrus only wanted two things out of life. He wanted his little brother to grow up and take responsibility for his own life, first of all. He also wanted a good night’s sleep, something he hadn’t had since he was sixteen years old and given responsibility for his baby brother and it looked like both would stay out of his grasp for a very long time.

“They’re coming to kill me, Cyrus,” Marty told him with tears in his eyes. “I thought the horse would win, I swear. I bet everything on it, how was I to know it would stumble and break its leg? They’re gonna kill me!”

“Relax, Marty,” Cyrus told him. He hated having to constantly cover for his brother. It was the same story since their parents had died twenty years ago, leaving Cyrus to raise his little brother by himself. He’d promised his mother that he would always watch out for Marty, no matter what. And he never broke that promise. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Cyrus, you don’t have that kind of money,” Marty told him. “I can’t let you do this for me. Not this time.”

“Just leave town for a few days,” Cyrus told him. “I’ll handle everything, I promise. I’ll call you in a few days and tell you when you can come home. Now get out of here.”

Marty hugged his brother tightly. “Thank you, Cyrus. I’ll make this up to you someday, I swear.”

Now

Green Lantern was flying home when all of a sudden a flying police car nearly knocked him out of the sky.

“That’s odd, the police cars don’t normally migrate until spring,” Green Lantern said as a large green hand shot out of the ring, catching the police car in mid-air. He set it down on the ground as he heard the sounds of gunfire.

Flying toward the sound of the disturbance, he found the police and Solomon Grundy in a standoff. Green Lantern sighed as he landed in-between them.

“Alright, guys, you can stand down now,” Green Lantern said looking at the police. He turned around and looked up at the hulking monster standing in front of him. “This is a bit above your pay grade. Just leave this to–”

Before Green Lantern could finish his thoughts, Grundy’s fists came down on top of him, pounding the hero into the pavement.

The police looked on in shock; watching as the monster just nigh-killed the town’s new hero. As Grundy looked down at the crater in the ground, he saw a green force field cover Green Lantern and his ring finger held over his head.

“You get one, big boy,” Green Lantern said as he stood up. “Now it’s my turn–”

Before Green Lantern could finish his thought, Grundy backhanded him up into the air, sending the hero flying over twenty yards away.

“Alright, what do we do?” Marvin asked his partner as he kept focused on Grundy. “I think this problem is bit beyond what we can handle.”

Marvin turned and saw that his partner had already fled the scene, as were the others as Grundy roared in frustration. Marvin stood up and looked at the creature.

“Just calm down,” Marvin told him as he held his hands up, letting the gun fall to the ground. “I’m not going to hurt you, alright?”

Marvin calmly walked toward Grundy, who was wondering what the puny man was doing. That was when Grundy realized who it was coming toward him, even though he couldn’t remember his name, or their connection. He’d seen that red hair before. It was a comforting sign to him for some reason.

“We can do this without anyone else getting hurt,” Marvin assured him as he slowly came forward. “Just breathe and stay calm. Let’s just try to do this without hurting anyone.”

Grundy just stared at the young man, starting to feel calmer as he approached. Grundy didn’t stop Marvin as he got closer, giving him a chance.

“Hey, double ugly!” Green Lantern shouted as Grundy turned around, just in time for a large green punching glove to hit him, sending Grundy flying across the street into a building. Green Lantern started flying towards the hole in the wall as a loud, nightmarish roar erupted from it.

“Way to go!” Marvin shouted. “I had it under control, you moron! You just made him angrier!”

“Relax, I can fix this,” Green Lantern said as Grundy burst out of the building and into the air, grabbing Green Lantern as he fell to the ground feet first. He slammed the hero around rapidly, and if it weren’t for a force field surrounding him, Kyle Rayner would have died instantly. Grundy, finally tired of slamming him around, tossed Green Lantern to the side, unharmed but extremely dizzy.

“Okay, I had nothing to do with that,” Marvin told Grundy. “I’m not your enemy. We can still talk this through, just you and me.”

Grundy roared as he grabbed Marvin, putting him under his arm and leaping away. Green Lantern stood up, still a little dizzy as he shook it off. He saw Grundy leaping away with Marvin and tried to follow, but as he got into the air, he saw the police surrounding him with their guns drawn.

“Uh, guys, can we do this later? That monster just made off with one of you,” Green Lantern told them.

“We can go after Marvin later, now we have a chance to take you in for questioning over that shadow freak’s rampage,” Marvin’s partner told him.

Then

Cyrus Gold had gone to see the mobsters over his brother’s debt, and was shocked to learn just how much his brother owed. It was more than he made in a year’s worth of working at the accounting office. No matter how much he pleaded, he couldn’t get them to spare his brother’s life.

“Then, take my life,” Cyrus told them. “I’ll pay his debt with my life.”

The head mobster, Big Louie, talked it over with his men and came back out to him.

“Your offer is accepted,” Big Louie told him. “That piece of shit is not deserving of such a brother as you. Take him out to the swamp and dump the body. No one will ever find him out there.”

“Can I call Marty and tell him goodbye, first?” Cyrus asked.

“Your brother will most likely be joining you at some point, as he cannot keep himself out of trouble,” Big Louie told him. “It is my understanding that this is not the first time he has come into such trouble.”

The men dragged Cyrus off, taking him to the swamp. He didn’t fight them, or try to run away because he was willingly giving his life to protect the little brother he had promised to protect. He just hoped that Marty would be able to take care of himself from now on. As Cyrus looked out into the swamp, the last thought that ran through his mind was that he was finally going to get some sleep.

BANG!

Now

Marvin opened his eyes a short while later, realizing he was lying in the grass of a wooded area. He sat up, looking around as he rubbed the back of his head. As he looked around, he realized he was far away from the city.

“Hello?” Marvin asked as he stood up. “Mr. Monster?”

He saw Grundy standing by the swampy marsh, looking out into it. Marvin carefully got closer as he looked up at the creature. “Is this where you came from?”

“Solomon Grundy wake up here,” the monster said as he pointed to the swamp.

“So, you can talk,” Marvin told him as he looked out into the swamp. “Solomon Grundy? That’s your name? Why did you bring me here?”

“You not attack Grundy like others,” Grundy grunted as he continued looking into the swamp. “Red Head, Grundy friend.”

Marvin touched his hair as he laughed. “Yeah, okay, let’s go with that. What is it that you want, Mr. Grundy?”

“Grundy only want peace,” he said as he stared down at Marvin, still trying to remember why the young man looked so familiar to him. “Grundy only want sleep.”

“Okay, we can do that,” Marvin told him, realizing that he was probably the only person who could help him. “Let’s find you a nice, quiet place and you can go back to sleep, and I’ll make sure no one bothers you.”

“No,” Grundy told him. “Red go back in swamp with Grundy. Stay with Grundy for all eternity.”

“Look, I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I don’t sleep with just anybody,” Marvin told him as Grundy picked Marvin up.

“Grundy want sleep!” the monster shouted as Marvin struggled out of his jacket and fell to the ground. He started running as Grundy tore Marvin’s jacket in half as he gave chase.

“Uhm. Hello?” Green Lantern told the officers. “That thing could be eating that officer’s heart. I don’t have time for this!”

“Make time,” Marvin’s partner told him. “You’re going downtown, pal.”

“I don’t believe I’m about to do this,” Green Lantern said as he focused his ring. Several green scantily clad female ninjas, wearing bikinis and black masks, appeared out of nowhere, kicking the guns out of the officers’ hands. “Alright, boys, I’d love to stick around, but… no, no I don’t, actually.”

Green Lantern took off, leaving a trail of green light behind him as he flew off as fast as he could.

Marvin was running through the swamp, trying to get away. He knew that Grundy would be on him in a matter of seconds, but he couldn’t let him drag him into the water or he’d drown. He heard the trees being crushed a few yards back and realized he didn’t have much time.

“Where red at?” Grundy shouted as he ploughed through the trees.

“Join the police force, make a difference,” Marvin said sarcastically as he kept going. “My ass.”

“Red!” Grundy shouted as he got closer to Marvin, who got his foot stuck in a dense puddle of muck. He tried to pull free as Grundy was almost on him. He finally managed to pull his foot out of his shoe as he fell forward to the ground, just as Grundy pounced.

Just as he was about to land on top of Marvin, a giant hand grabbed Grundy by the collar, holding him in the air. Green Lantern flew up and shook his head in disappointment.

“Now, now, young man, if you’re going to be rough with your friends, you can’t have them over anymore,” Green Lantern said as Grundy roared at him.

“Don’t hurt him!” Marvin shouted. “He just wants to sleep! He came from the swamp where he was living before he woke up majorly pissed!”

“Sleep, huh? I think that can be arranged,” Green Lantern said as he extended the hand and dropped Grundy into the water. As Grundy came up above the water again, a giant boom box appeared over him, playing a soothing lullaby.

“I don’t think it’s working,” Marvin said as he stood at the edge of the swamp as Grundy jumped into the air and punched the boom box, shattering it into a million emerald pieces. “He said he wanted me to go with him, that’s why he brought me out here!”

“Okay, then let’s try that,” Green Lantern said as Marvin just looked at him.

“You’re joking, right?”

“I have an idea,” Green Lantern told him as he watched Grundy rising up out of the swamp, after having landed back into after shattering the boom box. “But we have to move fast.”

Green Lantern scooped up Marvin and flew deeper into the wooded area as Grundy roared while giving chase. He started knocking over trees left and right as he searched for his new friend. Minutes later, he was getting closer to Marvin when he heard someone whistling at him.

“Hey!” Green Lantern shouted as he had Marvin slung over his shoulder. “You want him? Come get him!”

Green Lantern flew back toward the swamp, staying high over the water as he watched Grundy leaping toward him. Green Lantern created a large fist around Marvin and ploughed it straight down into the water, burying the contents of the fist miles below the surface. Grundy roared as he jumped into the water, heading down below.

“I hope this works,” Green Lantern said as he floated there for several minutes. When Grundy didn’t come back up, the hero flew to the edge of the swamp and landed. “I think it’s safe.”

Marvin peeked out from a behind a tree before walking out in just his boxer shorts. “You’re sure he’s gone?”

“We made a makeshift dummy and put your clothes on it, the water should be murky enough to where he can’t tell the difference,” Green Lantern told him. “I think all he wanted was a friend to keep him company, and now that he has that he should be resting peacefully for the time being.”

Green Lantern held out his ring and created a large green coat around Marvin. “Are you alright?”

“No, far from it,” Marvin told him quietly.

A short while later, Green Lantern brought Marvin back to his apartment as they sat out on the fire escape.

“What’s going on with the cops in this town?” Green Lantern asked him. “It’s like they didn’t want me to go after you earlier. Are you in some kind of trouble?”

“I joined the police force to make a difference,” Marvin told him. “I thought I could do some good for the city, but then I found out the hard way that things were just as corrupt on the inside as they were out on the streets. Most of the force is on the take, and when I started to speak up… I started getting harassed and threatened. The only guy on the force whose genuinely honest is the Commissioner as far as I can tell. He told me to play along and try to act like I was one of them while he worked on bringing them down. I don’t think a lot of guys are buying it, but I’m still trying to pretend like I’m on the take until this whole mess is cleared up. I had– I had to break up with my boyfriend to keep him safe, which is the one thing I hated doing in all of this. I–I really care about him, and if he got hurt–”

Green Lantern looked over at him. “Now that I know about this, I want to help. Tell the Commissioner that he can count me in if he needs anything. You just need to be careful, alright? I’m sure your boyfriend will take you back once you tell him–”

“He can’t know,” Marvin replied. “Not now. Not until this is all over. If he knew the truth, he’d put himself in harm’s way to help me, and I won’t allow that. You don’t know him, but Terry is… he’s the best thing to ever happen to me. And once this is all over, I’m going to win him back.” Marvin stood up and opened up the window to his apartment. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but could you… keep an eye on him for me?”

Marvin looked around and saw the hero had disappeared into the night. As Marvin climbed into his apartment, the first thing his eyes fell upon was a picture of him and Terry.

Kyle returned home, having had a long night. He opened the door as his faithful dog G’Nort was sleeping on the couch. Kyle patted him on the head as he headed to his bedroom. As he opened his door, he found someone going through his things. The thief was dressed in all black and had a shapely figure.

“Welcome home,” the thief said as she tossed a gas grenade to the ground. Before Kyle could react, he felt himself pass out.

TO BE CONTINUED…