Timeline 1962 Issue 4

When Titans Clash!

The flying saucer crashed through the front door of the Federation Savings Bank, sheering off bits of metal and concrete as it came through. As soon as it made impact, Will turned his attention to the three gunmen. He ripped each man’s handgun up and out of their hands; he let them hover several feet above the crowd’s heads.

In the ensuing chaos, Will made a break for the saucer. It’s hatch opened as he approached it, and it took him only a second to charge up in to it.

“CEASE AND DESIST,” he said through the loud speaker, trying his best to sound as mature as possible. His voice boomed out through the building.

Two of the three bank robbers dropped to the ground, but the third tried to run past him in to the street. Will lifted a chunk of debris and hurled it in to the man’s gut. He crumpled over at the blow. Will carefully moved the saucer to float over the runner.

“THE PROPER AUTHORITIES SHOULD ARRIVE SHORTLY. STAND DOWN OR I’LL KEEP YOU DOWN.”

He didn’t get back up. Even the hostages seemed too worried to move.

Will backed the saucer out towards the street. He needed to find away to make the people of Federation trust him, or he would soon find himself as reviled as the previous generation of metas.

He turned the saucer around just in time to get batted by the light post. Surprised, he lost focus, and the impact sent the front of the saucer crashing in to the street. Will looked up to see a man seemingly made of moving coal. The man brought the light post in for another swing, but Will took hold of it with his mind and sent it flying across the street. The coal man went back with it for several feet before finally releasing it and dropping to the ground.

The saucer shook as it got blasted from one side. The blast came with a horrible screech, but the sound cut off long before the blast. Will turned to see a young woman, not much older than himself with her hands extended towards him. He could see the faint sign of vibrations emanating from her hands, but he could hear nothing.

Was she releasing some kind of sound vibration, Will wondered. If this ship had some kind of sound dampening, it would fit that he couldn’t hear the noise after the first second or two of the attack.

Will lifted a piece of debris from outside the bank and sent it hurtling in her general direction. It went a few inches wide, but it was enough to force her to cut off her attack. Only seconds later, he felt something else crash in to him from behind. Turning in his seat, Will’s eyes went wide when he saw the tyrannosaurus rex before him. The dinosaur growled, before biting down on the edge of the saucer.

Will lifted off and in to the air. The t-rex tried to hold on, but it couldn’t keep its grip with only its teeth. The creature let go, and Freedom watched in amazement as it shrunk down in to the form of a hawk in mid-descent. The hawk flew away to regroup with the others.

They formed around a fourth member of their group, a man of some girth with hair and beard even more fiery red than the girl. He held a strange weapon pointed at the saucer; it looked even more like something out of a sci-fi flick than the saucer did.

“Stand down, alien” the redheaded man shouted. “In the name of the United States government, you will either stand down or we will take you down.”

Will knew he’d barely survived each of their individual attacks. He doubted he could survive a group effort. And the last thing he wanted was to fight the government. It went against every thing he’d ever been taught, but he knew it would better to just run.

Will forced the saucer straight up in to the air. The strange group’s leader raised his weapon and took aim at the saucer. Will forced the vehicle up higher, out of range.

Will felt the force of the strange beam of light before he even realized the shot had been fired. The craft shook as the blast struck. Will gasped as the walls went opaque around him. The shock broke his concentration and he could feel the g-forces as the saucer dropped like a rock from the sky.

*****

Coal rushed forward as the flying saucer stopped flying and started dropping towards the street. He wished he had time to smack Doc Challenger alongside the back of his head for firing the EM pulse at the dang ship when it was halfway over the city. As it was, he knew he’d be lucky if he even managed to catch the damn thing before it hit ground.

His feet slipped across the ground thanks to the layer of coal dust constantly falling from his form, and it made running hard. He slipped twice during the sprint, but kept himself aright. He couldn’t fail now.

It took every inch of willpower to make it, but he stopped himself just under the saucer mere seconds before it struck the ground. He braced himself for the impact, hoping he could catch the vehicle.

He closed his eyes, bracing for the shock of the collision. He waited, arms above his head. He waited, and waited. No impact.

Coal opened his eyes and looked up at the saucer floating only a couple of feet above him. Damn aliens.

*****

Despite his lack of vision, Will knew that down meant one thing: a loud, dangerous crash. He was in a big enough mess already; the last thing he needed was to cause any injuries. He focused his thoughts on stopping the vehicle’s plummet and said a silent prayer it wasn’t too late. The vehicle jerked to a halt, fast enough for him to feel it. Whatever had killed his monitors also seemed to have killed his protection from the forces of gravity as well. That’s insane, he thought. He controlled gravity; he should be able to resist its pull. He pushed the thought away. He’d focus on that later.

He tried his best to focus on moving straight up, but without any visual focus, he couldn’t tell how well he was doing. The saucer thunked against something as he started his rise. He needed to get his sight back before he damaged anything else.

The walls of the vehicle shimmered for a moment, before a clear view of the world around him opened. That was easy, Will thought.

Will shot off across the city as fast as he could push the saucer to move. He needed no more of these government metas. They’d came far too close to catching him, and more importantly, destroying part of the city. He’d done well against the beast outside the museum, but he didn’t want to be responsible for the kind of destruction its rampage had caused.

Perhaps it was time to rethink this U.F.O. thing.

*****

Matt Ledger watched with a smirk as Coal stomped towards Doc Challenger. Coal looked none too happy after being leveled by a flying saucer that Challenger had almost knocked from the sky over Federation.

“Doc,” Coal yelled from half a block away. “I’m going to rip you a new one for this fiasco.”

“Calm down,” Doc Challenger replied. “Violence doesn’t solve anything, Coal.”

Matt smirked as Coal continued the screaming match. “You knocked a damn flying saucer down over the city. You could have taken out half a block with that thing. And what if had one of those nuclear engines? You could have blown up the damn city.”

“It was a calculated risk. I suspect there’s more to this U.F.O. than meets the eye.”

“Yeah?” Coal stopped as he spoke. Doc Challenger looked at him warily. “Maybe the next time we see the damn thing, I’ll make sure it meets your eye, not to mention the rest of you, like it just did me!” Coal charged forward again.

Doc Challenger blinked out of view as Coal was just about on him. Matt knew he wouldn’t be far, as they now had a U.F.O. to hunt. Matt shook his head at the shenanigans. How many times had he watched these two go at it? Wasn’t he supposed to be the kid of this team?

*****

Will circled the city in a variety of patterns before finally bringing the saucer down in to the junkyard. As he climbed out of the vehicle, he took a moment to glance around the refuse heaps. He would need to find a better hiding place for the saucer soon. If those government metas were really out to find him, they would find the junkyard soon enough.

Right now, he needed to get home. He was tired. Will didn’t think he’d ever been this tired. The junkyard grew hazy around him. Will took another step forward before his knees buckled. He crashed to the ground face first, but he didn’t feel the impact. He was already unconscious.

*****

He emerged from the shadows of the junkyard. He wasn’t quite sure what had brought him here, but after watching the kid emerge from the flying saucer, he thought he knew why.

A chittering emerged from deep in his throat as he realized his excitement. He reached out one gray, stone-like hand towards the boy. He recognized the kid as soon as he lifted him from the ground. It was the damn kid from the accident!

He hurled the kid over one shoulder with ease, making sure to avoid slicing the kid open with the sharpest of the rock plates that now formed his skin.

Dr. Lynn Levin smiled at his fortune. He would soon learn what had activated his metagene and turned him in to this glorious form, if he had to dissect the child to do so. And then his grand plans would begin.