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By Gerry Saracco
DANNY ‘PADDY’ SULLIVAN was once a police officer walking a beat. He was gunned down in the line of duty. His fellow officers mourned his passing, but unknown to them, he wasn’t truly gone. Though his body died, Danny’s spirit remained behind. In his ghostly form, he decided to continue fighting crime. Though he approached the precinct he worked at to offer his help, his former comrades thought he was a crackpot. They locked him in a jail cell, and he decided to play along. He figures he can learn about crimes from whomever is guarding his cell, then sneak out at night when they fall asleep. This is how our tale begins…
One
The Duke of Darkness sat in his jail cell. He knew something had been going on the past day or so; everyone seemed on edge. He tried getting some info from the Chief, but he was keeping tight-lipped. Which meant it was pretty bad. So far, he hadn’t left his cell to investigate. Maybe tonight...
Clancy walked in; he was taking over for O’Shaughnessy. Even with all the hubbub going on, the Chief still kept someone watching over him. At least with Clancy here, he might get some info about what’s going on outside...
‘Hey Clancy! How’s it going tonight?’
Clancy glanced up from reading the sports page. ‘It’s been a rough couple of days. Duke, we’ve had a rash of robberies in the area.’
Duke’s eyes lit up. ‘Is that so? Is that why everyone seems on edge?’
‘Aye. There ain’t no ordinary robberies though. The crooks got some kind of weird weapons outta some sci-fi serial you see before a movie!’
Duke stroked his chin. ‘That so? They’re using ray guns? Seems kind of far-fetched to me!’
Clancy snorted. ‘Says the man who claims to be a ghost! You’re one to talk, sure and begorrah!’
‘Now, now, Clancy. I believe you. What kind of ray guns do they use?’
‘Not ray guns. They have these weird little discs they hold in their hands, and lightning shoots out of them. Mulligan said they got some kind of robot with them too.’
This was getting interesting. ‘Robot? That sounds dangerous. You sure Mulligan didn’t have a few nips before he supposedly saw this?’
‘No, because O’Rourke and Boyles saw it too. Boyles never touches the hard stuff, being a good lad. Reminds me a little of Paddy, poor soul.’
If only Clancy knew that ‘Poor Soul’ was talking to him right now!
‘Did anyone get hurt by this robot or those weapons?
‘Aye. Calhoun got himself shocked but good from one of them disc things. Cairney too. They’re both still in the hospital.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that, Clancy. I hope they recover soon.’
Clancy turned the page. ‘Aye, they’re both rugged lads. They’ll be back on the job in no time, don’t you worry!’
The only thing Duke was worried about was more police officers getting injured at the hands of this new gang. It was time for him to deal with this problem. Duke waited for Clancy to nod off, then walked through the wall of his cell. Hovering for a moment, he looked around to see if anyone could see him. He didn’t see any officers nearby, so he took flight, hoping he might catch these criminals in the act!
Two
A few miles from the police station, six men meet in a warehouse. Each of them puts a black hood over their heads, matching the dark coveralls they wore. They gather around a truck, lighting up smokes and cracking jokes. Eventually, each of them pulls out a black oval device from their pockets. One of them, a thug named Garrett, looks at his five companions. ‘Everyone got their shocker? Good. Boss, we’re all ready to move out.’
The men all turned as the sound of clanking resounded in the warehouse. Out of the shadows came this metallic humanoid form. Inside a type of jar where the head should be floated a human brain. Even though they had worked for the boss for a while now, the sight of him still made them all save Garrett shiver. A voice like a man talking through a radio spoke to them...
‘Excellent. You’ve all done well so far. If we can complete the next two jobs, I guarantee that you all will soon become very wealthy men!’
The gang smiled at this. They’d all done well working for the Brain, as the thing liked to call itself. Garrett had known him years ago, when he went by the name The Professor of Crime. Everyone thought the Black Bat had killed him, but he came back like this. Garrett had recruited all of them, and the Brain had given them the shockers, devices that fire bolts of lightning. Thanks to these shockers, they’d taught the cops a lesson they’d never forget!
Garrett looked the crew over. ‘All right, boys, saddle up!’ The gang members took their places in the truck, while the Brain strode into the back of the vehicle. After Garrett helped Brain strap in, Ziggy started the engine, and they drove off into the night...
Three
Duke of Darkness flew around Tesla Town, keeping himself a few feet above the rooftops. He had shadowed some patrol cars earlier, and overheard some officers talking about this new gang. He had learned that all the places they hit involved companies doing research into new technology. Given all their previous robberies were in Tesla Town, it seemed obvious this was where they’d strike again.
He noticed a strange-looking truck approaching Tesla Town from the Northside. Hovering in the air, he watched it park outside Wilson Optical. He wondered why they’d target a company that made prescription lenses for glasses when it hit him! They also made lenses for long range telescopes used by observatories! Could that be what they were after?
He observed four men wearing hoods exiting the back of the truck. Another man exited the passenger side of the cab, and they made their way to the shipping dock. They jimmied the roller door, raising it, then went inside the building. Duke flew through the wall, keeping them in sight. They made their way through shipping into a stairwell and walked up to the third floor. From there, they went to a door with ‘Special Projects’ stencilled on it. They forced it open and went inside.
Duke flew in after them, and saw they were wrapping four large lenses with cloth, and placing them into a sack. Not wanting them to get away, he flew at them, catching the first man with an uppercut that sent them staggering back into a wall. Another went for a gun, but dropped to his knees after a quick jab to the face.
Garrett saw Dempsey stagger back into the wall. He turned and saw a pale man in a cape and swim trunks catch Phelps with a jab. He turned to Gino. ‘Take the sack to the truck and let the boss know we got a cape here!’ Gino hefted the sack and ran for the doorway as Garrett and the other two charged the weirdo and started pummelling him. He ran out the door and started down the stairs. Gotta make it to the truck, he thought. The boss will take care of that cape real good!
Four
Ziggy lit up a smoke as he sat behind the wheel of the truck. They had bribed the guard to be on the other side of the building while they took what they needed. This will be a piece of cake. One more job after this, and we’ll all be rich!
At the sound of breaking glass, he looked up to see Eddie falling out of the building. He landed on the sidewalk hard. He tried to get up, then just fell back down and laid there. Shit! What is going on? Gino came running out of the dock, a sack over his shoulder. He ran to the back of the truck and started jabbering at the boss. Ziggy got out of the cab, drawing his piece. He thought he saw Garrett by the broken window, slugging it out with someone who looked like an albino.
Ziggy heard the boss exit the back of the truck. He saw him walk towards the dock, Gino right behind him. Laughing to himself, Ziggy wondered if the person interfering had any idea what they were getting themselves into...
Dempsey broke a chair across Duke’s back. Even though he was a ghost, Duke could still feel pain when he was solid. He grabbed the man in front of him, turned, and threw him into Dempsey. Both men went down in a heap. He turned to face Garrett. ‘You might as well give it up. You can’t beat me.’
Garrett laughed. ‘Beat you? We’re just keeping you busy!’ Before Duke could reply, he heard a clanking sound coming from the hallway. Duke saw an enormous shadow in the corner of his eye. He jerked back as a metallic arm swung towards him, smashing into the wall. He turned to face this new threat, and gasped. In front of him was a large human-like form about seven feet tall, made of metal. While he first thought it was some kind of robot, there was a glass cylinder covered in metal where the head should be. He noticed a weird blackish-red gemstone at the top of the metal carapace, and floating in that cylinder appeared to be a human brain!
Five
Duke heard static like that of a radio before a distorted voice spoke. ‘You were foolish to interfere with my plans. Now you shall feel my wrath!’
Duke dodged another swing from one of those metallic arms. As it smashed into the wall, Duke fired off a few jabs at its torso. His fists barely dented the armoured form before its arm pulled free from the wall and grabbed him by the back of the head. Duke tried to twist free, but it caught him in its grip. He tried to resist, but the hand slammed his face into the floor before being pulled back up and thrown down the hall.
As Duke rose to his feet, he heard that distorted voice again. ‘You’re strong, but I’m stronger. You can’t stop me.’ Duke didn’t respond; instead he flew at his foe and slammed into it. The armoured form staggered back two steps, but that was it. He wondered what it was made of; it was unlike any metal he had known about while alive. Even though it had no face, he felt like it was gazing at him.
‘You won’t stop, will you? Your attacks are futile, yet you persist in opposing me!’ The distorted voice sounded incredulous. ‘I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve left me with no other choice. You brought this doom upon yourself, hero.’ Duke thought he heard the voice sigh after its last words. He clenched his fists, ready to fight.
The gem on the cylinder’s forehead started to glow. Duke felt mesmerized by the sight. As the glow intensified, he sensed the danger. He made to phase through the wall to escape, but it was too late; it engulfed him in a beam of blackish-red light. Even though he was immaterial, his entire form writhed in pain. He struggled to reach the wall but couldn’t move. It felt like time stood still in the beam.
The glow intensified, and Duke felt like he was being ripped apart. He felt his ghostly form dissipating, and he screamed in pain. In seconds, his form had turned into a blue and white mist. Slowly, the mist form moved through the beam towards the gem. It looked like the mist was being pulled inside the gem, and when it was all gone, the beam stopped.
Garrett stared in horror at what just happened. ‘What happened to him, boss?’
The armoured form turned towards Garrett. ‘He’s gone to another place, Garrett. Someplace far more dangerous than here. I doubt he’ll survive there very long. We’ve wasted enough time now; gather the men, and let’s get out of here before the police show up.’ The armoured body started heading down the stairs. Garrett helped Dempsey and the other thug up, and started pushing them towards the stairs. Ziggy already had the engine running, so they all staggered into the truck.
As they drove off, all Garrett could think of was that unearthly scream the albino made before being sucked into the boss’s gemstone. He shivered before lighting up a smoke and took a long drag.
As the truck drove into the night, Garrett wondered what other horrible things he’d see before he saw his payday...
Author’s Note
The Duke of Darkness is a ghostly superhero from the Golden Age of comics. He only had a couple of appearances before fading into obscurity. Thankfully, he fell into the public domain, which is how I discovered him. He is a knock-off of the better-known Spectre, but still seemed a fun character to play with. Pitting him against The Evil Brain (an original character of mine) seemed kind of natural, as did ending this tale on a cliffhanger (as it sets up the follow-up I’m writing).
If you want to learn a little more about the character, here’s his entry on the Public Domain Super Heroes wiki:
https://pdsh.fandom.com/wiki/Duke_of_Darkness
Then head over to Comic Book Plus at https://comicbookplus.com/, and check out his previous appearances (which are all listed in his wiki entry).
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