Lothar enjoyed the evenings in Central City. He liked the quiet time with Mandrake, just sitting outside on the terrace or in the living room together, both of them reading a book or newspaper or playing a game of chess. Sometimes they watched a movie or television programm but more often than not, they were just enjoying each others company and talked about their day or what was on their minds. Today, Lothar tried his best to avoid mentioning the phone call from his ex. Instead, he listened to Mandrake's plans for his next show.
„Those are some pretty good ideas," he complimented his old friend. „I'm really looking forward to seeing it all executed. It's been too long since I've last seen one of your shows."
„Well, I did add a lot of new tricks to my repertoire," Mandrake said with a smile. „You should see my closing act. It really leaves nothing to be desired. In fact..."
„What?" Lothar asked when Mandrake didn't finished the sentence.
Instead of answering, Mandrake got up and walked toward the window where he stood, looking up to the sky. Confused, Lothar also got up and stood next to him.
„What is that?" he wanted to know. Something was coming down fast.
„I believe it's a plane," Mandrake replied, opening the door to the terrace, his hands held up against the sky. „Whatever it is, it's going to come down crashing hard. I can help with a softer landing, but I can't stop it entirely!"
„It IS a plane!" Lothar shouted, astonished. That wasn't something you got to see every day. „Or rather – a spaceship I believe? But it doesn't look like it's from the Space Center..."
„No, but it's burning!" Mandrake shouted while breaking the fall of the huge dark spaceship a bit using his power of telekinesis. Instead of crashing full speed onto the ground, it had a much softer landing now.
„Careful," Lothar warned when Mandrake was ready to get closer. „It doesn't look like any spaceship from Earth. We don't know if whoever is in it is friendly or not."
„Or if they're still alive," Mandrake said, going around the huge ship. „It looks like it took one too many hits."
„Well..." After nothing had happened for a while, Lothar gathered his courage. „I guess there's only one way to find out."
He was lucky enough to be super strong, which made it easier for him to open the door. When still nothing happened, both men finally stepped inside and found an unconscious Flash Gordon in the cockpit. He was apparently hurt.
„Looks like the pilot hit his head," Lothar said, lifting the poor man out of his seat and taking him outside. „He's alive, but there's blood on his face. We better have him checked out."
„That is Flash Gordon!" Mandrake exclaimed in shock. He didn't know Flash very well but they had met before and even worked together once. While the blond space pilot was very different from Mandrake and had a different style in which he approached problems, they still had worked together surprisingly well.
„The Flash Gordon? The famous space pilot?" Now out in the open, Lothar took a closer look. „Indeed, I believe it is him. Looks like he is on the run from someone."
„Better camouflage the ship then, at least for a while," Mandrake said, using his illusions to make sure nobody saw a huge foreign spaceship in the garden.
Lothar then carried Flash upstairs in one of the guestrooms. Both Kshin and LJ heard the noise outside and came running.
„Pops, what happened!" LJ cried.
„Is that..." Kshin's eyes went wide. „... Flash Gordon!? I've seen him on television, he's a real hero!"
„And now he needs our help," Lothar said. „Please get the first aid kit, Kshin. Let's see what we can do."
It was now pretty dark outside when Amy O'Connor left the bus station. She checked Google Maps. The mansion Mandrake the Magician was living in was pretty far outside. But the long distance bus did only go as far as the Central City bus station and that was it. Well, her money was not enough to order a taxi. She sighed. Now she would have to sleep at the bus station and then try to hitchhike to the mansion tomorrow. And then... she had no idea. But she knew she had to try. Somehow, she knew she had that dream for a reason. She would find this Mandrake and then ask her questions. And hopefully, he could provide her with some answers.
When Flash woke up a few hours later, both Mandrake and Lothar were with him in the guestroom.
"Easy, Flash," Mandrake said when he tried to sit up too quickly. "You've had quite the rough flight and have been unconscious for a few hours. You need to rest."
"No," Flash said and still tried to get up. "My wife... my kids... they're prisoners of Mongo, prisoners of Ming the Merciless... I have up... I have to..."
"You have to rest up," Mandrake insisted, secretly horrified about the news. "You're helping nobody when you're not taking care of yourself. We'll phone the Space Center immediately."
"No," Flash repeated. "They won't do anything that could risk a full on war with Ming... lot's of talking and bureaucracy and very little action - I have to go myself, I have to save them!"
"Listen," Mandrake said. "When you crashed on my lawn, that ship you came in did look a little worse for the wear. There's no way you can just get in and fly off again. You're lucky you've made it at all."
"I could take a look at it," Lothar offered. "Early in the morning, I mean. It's getting dark outside now. I have some knowledge in astral mechanics. Maybe I can fix it - but you still shouldn't go back there alone."
Mandrake quickly introduced Lothar and Flash to each other. "Maybe we can help you," he then offered. "Lothar and I are no trained space pilots. But we've been adventuring and treasure hunting for most of our younger years and we've fought many criminals along the way."
"Ming is dangerous," Flash warned them. "He's a superpowered evil alien emperor with an army of ice robots at his command."
"Well, it was getting a little dull around here," Mandrake replied with a smile. "I do miss the action...besides, I have my magic powers and Lothar is the strongest man I know."
"Yes," Lothar immediately agreed. "We've taken on the worst sort of scumbags before. Granted, those were human scumbags - but the thought of my son being in danger like this makes me sick. So I know exactly how you feel about your family. I do want to help you."
"I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am," Flash replied.
"You don't have to say anything, my friend," Mandrake said. "Just rest up, you're going to need all your strenght later."
Mandrake and Lothar left the guestroom and, standing in the corridor, they looked at each other.
"Well...," Lothar finally said. "I will be like old times, I guess. Only with alien scumbags this time around."
"I do miss our adventures," Mandrake said. "I mean, it was the right choice to settle down back then. You were getting married, and I had the opportunity of a career - I inherited this house - and later on I took little Kshin in. I regret none of it, but I always missed our adventurous times."
"Well, that makes two of us," Lothar smiled when suddenly they noticed LJ and Kshin lurking in the parker parts of the corridor.
"Flash Gordon!" Kshin exclaimed in excitement. "He's one of my heroes! And now he's here, in our house!"
"Yeah, that's great! I wonder if we can meet him?" LJ suddenly didn't seem to mind hanging out with Kshin.
"It's great to see you two getting along but Mr Gordon has to rest now," Lothar told them. "But seeing as Mandrake and I have agreed to help him with a mission, I do think you're going to have the chance to get introduced in the morning."
"What are you helping him with?" LJ asked with interest. "Can we help too?"
"I'm afraid you are a bit too young for that," Mandrake said. "But you can help by taking care of each other. We might have to leave for a few days. Flash's wife and kids are in terrible danger - we need to find a way to rescue them."
"I wish we could help!" both kids said.
They've got their wish to meet Flash Gordon in person the next day when they brought him some breakfast. After some rest and food and a shower, Flash felt ready to take on Ming and rescue Dale, April and Rick. He was very worried about them although he knew Dale could handle herself. But she had the kids to consider and they weren't trained for situations like this. He was sure they were very frightend.
"I tried to fix that ship, but my astral mechanic knowledge does not extend to alien technology," Lothar said when Flash joined them downstairs.
"But I did call the Space Center and they removed the alien spaceship from my lawn," Mandrake said. "They've also provided us with a fine ship for our trip."
Flash looked confused. "They did?" he asked. "So we have the inofficial go for our rescue mission?"
"Well - no...", Mandrake had to admit. "But I consider myself quite skilled at hypnosis and illusion, so... for now, we have a 'go', but it's neither offical nor inoffical."
Lothar took LJ aside and made him promise to watch Kshin and the house and be responsible for once.
"No parties. No going out late and leaving Kshin on his own. No trying to sneak into Mandrake's wine cellar. Just... stay out of trouble and make sure Kshin stays out of trouble too," he instructed his son.
"I wish I could come though," LJ sighed. He didn't like that he had to stay behind with a little boy.
"Were we're going, that is no place for a 14 year old," Lothar reminded him. "Just be good. If you don't hear from us within 24 hours, do call the number I left in the kitchen."
"I hope you can save them," LJ replied, realizing how serious this was. He could also lose his father if this went wrong. He suddenly felt very young and scared and was glad he had Kshin around to distract him from constantly thinking about what might happen to his father.
"I hope so too, son. I really do."
Finally, Flash, Lothar and Mandrake went on board the ship and Flash took her off the ground. Kshin and LJ waved until they could no longer see the spaceship.
"Tell us more about Mongo," Lothar asked, curious. "I personally don't know much other than what I saw in the media. It's the tenth planet, it suddenly was discovered many years ago, Earth send its prisoners there, and so on. So this Ming guy is the king... no, wait, the emperor of the whole planet?"
"Well, originally there were several kingdoms all over the planet, but the Royal Family - Ming's ancestors, to be precise - overtook the whole planet. Ming City in the Royal City, so to speak. I guess Ming named it after himself once he took the throne. All the kingdoms had to submit to the reigning monarch. If they didn't, they ended up destroyed."
"Well... he's not someone to mess with, I guess," Mandrake said. He wasn't too keen on meeting Ming in person.
"No," Flash agreed. But they had messed with him - and now maybe Dale, Rick and April would pay the price.
Note: I felt like adding the Space Center complicated things because technically, all missions would have to be approved by them. So here, Mandrake uses his powers so they can get away with going to Mongo. In the future, this is solved when the Defenders become an organisation of their own.
