Mrs. Rosemary Lucey, 68, in what remains of her Goldwater home. Photo by Brent Anderson
ASTRO CITY - The alien invader Kroseth IV of Antares was captured Tuesday by Honor Guard, after spending almost a year disguised as a ranch-style home in the Goldwater neighborhood. Though the creature put up a stiff battle, it was subdued and taken into custody with no loss of life.
The extraterrestrial had been home to retiree Rosemary Lucey, at 414 DeCarlo Avenue, for ten months. Late last year, Mrs. Lucey's longtime home was inadvertently destroyed during a battle between Samaritan and the Glowworm. After the battle, Honor Guard reconstructed Mrs. Lucey's home, using the Repli-Matrix crystal captured from Tritonian slavers early in their career, which they have so often used for reconstruction purposes.
"Unfortunately," said Honor Guard spokesman MPH, "Kroseth hadn't been destroyed after our last clash with him, as it had appeared. He'd infused his essence with the Repli-Matrix, and the next time we used it — pow!, there he was. A two-bedroom house." Honor Guard realized the deception when Kroseth began mentally controlling area civil servants, forming them into a strikeforce.
The house's unusual nature hadn't gone completely unnoticed, however. "We used to have such a squirrel problem all through the block," said Mrs. Lucey. "They hogged the birdseed we put out for the birds, no matter what we did. But after Honor Guard built my new house, they weren't a problem any more. I think it was eating them.
"Still," she added, "I had no idea it had enslaved Frank, our mailman. It was quite good company, most of the time. It would sing me to sleep in its own language... lovely, lovely songs. And it was a great help with the crossword puzzle."
Honor Guard begins construction on Mrs. Lucey's new home — by more conventional building methods — on Monday.
