Christmas Contest Entry: Santa Loses His Cookies

Contest Entry ID# 10910

The Closer was at the Precinct, just going over the latest movements of the morphon powered. It was hard to keep your eyes on the whole spectrum of supers. Things changed fast out there. A button labeled simply "Nerd" starting blinking on his console. It was Nova sending a distress call. He was good at that sort of thing...

He tapped the button and hit a toggle to engage the audio.  

Apparently, Santa was in trouble, and someone wanted to eat the world's children. Must be a Monday.

"E.A.R.P." he calls on the precincts A.I. "What can you tell me about Krampus?"
 
A voice responds. "Krampus is part of the Santa Claus menagerie. In counterpoint to the well-known gift giving of old Saint Nicholas, Krampus punishes the naughty children of the world."

The Closer mumbles "I see, so this is the Christmas episode, and the boogeyman is soaking up morphons."  

He flips a switch and the chair slides backwards away from the work station. "I suppose I should at least appear in a fight scene or two, if I want to stay in position for a solo title."

He taps his communicator "The Closer, to all officers. If you're following the badge frequencies, you know what this is about. If you missed it, a Christmas Themed Villain has captured Santa. We need to find Claus and prevent a Christmassacre. A lot of you have gone home for the holidays, that's a lot of eyes in a lot of places. What have you got that's big, bright, or high profile, and Christmassy enough to attract our perp.

A lot of ideas are thrown around, and teams were dispatched. S.W.A.T. and Buddy Cops split up to check on several charity events. The Night Shift would snoop around an organization trying to beat the world's record for gingerbread construction. Code Blue was going to look in on a fire at a reindeer farm. Space Force would remain alert for suspicious air traffic. Hopefully one of the leads would pay off.

The Closer selected one event to check out personally and invited the Wise Guys along. There is a Christmas Village on the edge of New Amsterdam. A toy store called Santa's Workshop is putting on an event to raise money for orphaned children. Here's where it gets interesting. The entire community is a tourist trap, and for the event, has been encased in a monstrous snow globe!

Dr. Silver Surfer Strange opens a portal to the main entrance. As soon as the team walks through, they notice something strange is going on, some faint screams can be heard, and flashing lights, in fact there appears to be a blizzard inside the globe. The Closer takes his que and points "That whole thing is shaking like a bowl full of jelly!" Nailed it!

"Okay team, we've got activity. Let's get the fliers airborne, and Doctor you're on sorcerous surveillance!"

They decide not to rip their way into the globe, since there's no telling what might bring it down on the people still inside. They do a quick recon and then form up to rush though the plastic sheets, and flapping rubber straps that span the wide entrance.

Arcing morphon powered lightning acts as the star at the top of a huge Christmas tree. This is the only light that illuminates what's left of the former holiday hamlet.

At the center of the lightning, writhing in agony, is Santa Claus!  He seems to be completely at the mercy of his kidnapper.

Very quietly the Closer mumbles "I believe in you..." and starts to claps his hands... When nothing happens, except a sideways glance from CdnDraxis. "Oh well, it was worth a shot."

Plan B... "Doctor, see what you can do to remove Santa from that." The Doctor flies up arms already weaving a mysterious enchantment. "Vanguardian and Spankmyster we need wings on the Doctor!"

"Now we need to find our villain, maybe we can end this right here!" The Redheaded Stepchild, Powerman, and CdnDraxis fan out to search the grounds.

The Closer settles on a bit of high ground and tries to keep his eyes on everyone's search coming up short. At the same time, his instrumentation is saying there is a great power here. He figures its time for the direct approach. "Krampus! Come out and fight you Christmas Creep!"

Instruments read off the charts for morphon activity! There is a flash, and as the lightning goes out, a wave of force hurls everyone about 50 feet further from the tree. At that point about a third of the town's Christmas lights come back on, illuminating a giant Krampus stepping out from behind the Tree!

"Well, some little heroes, that ran a little late! You may have got here in time to save Santa's life, but it wasn't fast enough to upset my plans! Such Power! Enough to finally match my appetite!"

The Doctor settles to the ground beside The Closer, with Santa thrown over a shoulder. "He's telling some truth, whatever power Santa possessed is gone, extracted. I assume Krampus finished whatever he was here to do. Santa is alive but little more than an empty shell."

Krampus continues to swell in size. "I'll see you again little Heroes, but right now I have too much to do. Don't worry, you won't miss it and it'll be Ho Ho Horrifying! HA HA HA HA Ha!

He vanishes with a rather disgusting sound.

The Heroes of the 5th Precinct check the area, and help whoever they can. They also watch over Santa Claus, but aren't sure how much longer he'll need their assistance. They don't know what was taken exactly, but they know what’s taking its place. It was making him violently sick, but Santa was absorbing morphons like a sponge!

The Closer takes a deep breath and hits his communicator. "Nova. This is The Closer, you're up."

Love this story Closer.