Last week, we left an unconscious Midnight seemingly doomed to a watery grave. Meanwhile, his laundryman-killer went about his way delivering wetwash to the Vaporian Consul's office.
At the consulate, a servant woman meets him at the door asks if he's heard that, "Everyone is looking for King Zoris." The laundryman simply mumbles to himself: "Not everybody."
In the front parlor of the Consulate, Sniffer has arrived with his "King Zoris" (and the king's remarkably thuggish-looking "prime minister"). After being left unattended, Sniffer begins proclaiming at the top of his lungs, "Consul! I've brought King Zoris!" Hotfoot growls at a curtain...and is, of course, ignored. The error of that oversight becomes apparent too late.
A gat appears in the folds of the curtain. A shot rings out and the would-be king is cut down! The "prime minister" hurls back the curtain, but finds only an empty hallway.
Back in the servants' quarters, the gunshot terrifies the maid. Yet one suspects that shock pales in comparison to the sight of a dashing, azure-bedecked man emerging from her laundry bag! It seems Midnight was stirred to consciousness by the gunplay.
Still a bit addled, Midnight begins wandering through the Consulate. He eventually stumbles into the erstwhile "king's" companions, and both assume the other was guilty of slingin' lead.
Back in the front room, Doc and Gabby arrive claiming they found King Zoris, Sniffer protests that's absurd because he already found Zoris before the king was cut down in a vicious act of regicide. Midnight waltzes in--apparently it didn't take him too long to dispatch his sparring partners--and starts asking questions when he hears Gabby's claim.
Midnight immediately recognizes this latest pretender as none other than Donald Larkinfoot, Shakespearean actor. Donald doesn't put up much of a protest, however. You see, Hotfoot starts growling at the curtain again, and Midnight immediately recognizes it's hiding a killer. He lands a couple haymakers into the scarlet mass, before dragging an assassin from its velvety folds.
At this point, Donald decides things have gotten waaaay too real...and that taking a job with a road company will be easier on his life expectancy.
The threat subdued, Midnight tosses the killer's gun to Wackey and tells him to, "keep an eye on this collection of fakes!" Sniffer is sent to find the Consul and get him to a hospital. Midnight begins questioning the various actors in this evening's stolen identity case. When he asks the hoods what made them think they could pass off their ugly partner as a king, one of them retorts that everything would've worked fine and they would've beaten Midnight senseless, "if you hadn't laid it on our chins with that heavy ring."
Taking a quick glance at his hand, Midnight races back to the servants' quarters. He asks the maid what she knows about the laundryman, and is told he's "inefficient and insulting." On top of it all, the fool dropped off Midnight in a laundry bag instead of the Consulate's wet-wash! In fact, she's just called him and demanded that he correct his mistake.
When the laundryman arrives, we finally get our big reveal:
Exposed, Zoris initially pulls a saber from under his coat and makes the ill-considered attempt to skewer our hero. After easily kicking the sword away, Midnight delivers a quick one-two to the royal schnoze, before frog marching him back to the front parlor.
In the meantime, Sniffer has returned with the Vaporian Consul and it's time for the final story wrap-up. At this point, Zoris finally opens up about his motives. Apparently, the king didn't want to retain the throne with its inherent dangers from anarchists and assassins. He just wanted to stay in his humble laundromat.
In a final frustrating twist, a breaking radio bulleting reports that a recount of the Vaporian plebiscite has shown there was an error on the first count. In fact, the people do NOT want Zoris back. They have elected to form a Republic.
At the consulate, a servant woman meets him at the door asks if he's heard that, "Everyone is looking for King Zoris." The laundryman simply mumbles to himself: "Not everybody."
In the front parlor of the Consulate, Sniffer has arrived with his "King Zoris" (and the king's remarkably thuggish-looking "prime minister"). After being left unattended, Sniffer begins proclaiming at the top of his lungs, "Consul! I've brought King Zoris!" Hotfoot growls at a curtain...and is, of course, ignored. The error of that oversight becomes apparent too late.
A gat appears in the folds of the curtain. A shot rings out and the would-be king is cut down! The "prime minister" hurls back the curtain, but finds only an empty hallway.
Back in the servants' quarters, the gunshot terrifies the maid. Yet one suspects that shock pales in comparison to the sight of a dashing, azure-bedecked man emerging from her laundry bag! It seems Midnight was stirred to consciousness by the gunplay.
Still a bit addled, Midnight begins wandering through the Consulate. He eventually stumbles into the erstwhile "king's" companions, and both assume the other was guilty of slingin' lead.
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| Midnight goes Super-Saiyan! |
Back in the front room, Doc and Gabby arrive claiming they found King Zoris, Sniffer protests that's absurd because he already found Zoris before the king was cut down in a vicious act of regicide. Midnight waltzes in--apparently it didn't take him too long to dispatch his sparring partners--and starts asking questions when he hears Gabby's claim.
Midnight immediately recognizes this latest pretender as none other than Donald Larkinfoot, Shakespearean actor. Donald doesn't put up much of a protest, however. You see, Hotfoot starts growling at the curtain again, and Midnight immediately recognizes it's hiding a killer. He lands a couple haymakers into the scarlet mass, before dragging an assassin from its velvety folds.
At this point, Donald decides things have gotten waaaay too real...and that taking a job with a road company will be easier on his life expectancy.
The threat subdued, Midnight tosses the killer's gun to Wackey and tells him to, "keep an eye on this collection of fakes!" Sniffer is sent to find the Consul and get him to a hospital. Midnight begins questioning the various actors in this evening's stolen identity case. When he asks the hoods what made them think they could pass off their ugly partner as a king, one of them retorts that everything would've worked fine and they would've beaten Midnight senseless, "if you hadn't laid it on our chins with that heavy ring."
Taking a quick glance at his hand, Midnight races back to the servants' quarters. He asks the maid what she knows about the laundryman, and is told he's "inefficient and insulting." On top of it all, the fool dropped off Midnight in a laundry bag instead of the Consulate's wet-wash! In fact, she's just called him and demanded that he correct his mistake.
When the laundryman arrives, we finally get our big reveal:
Exposed, Zoris initially pulls a saber from under his coat and makes the ill-considered attempt to skewer our hero. After easily kicking the sword away, Midnight delivers a quick one-two to the royal schnoze, before frog marching him back to the front parlor.
In the meantime, Sniffer has returned with the Vaporian Consul and it's time for the final story wrap-up. At this point, Zoris finally opens up about his motives. Apparently, the king didn't want to retain the throne with its inherent dangers from anarchists and assassins. He just wanted to stay in his humble laundromat.
In a final frustrating twist, a breaking radio bulleting reports that a recount of the Vaporian plebiscite has shown there was an error on the first count. In fact, the people do NOT want Zoris back. They have elected to form a Republic.
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| As Dean Martin would say, "Ain't that a kick in the head?" |
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