Timeline 1962 Issue 5

In the Hands of a Monster!

Water dripped down on to his forehead, and Will tried to bring up his hand to wipe it away.

It wouldn’t move.

Will opened his eyes. This wasn’t his room. Where was he?

It came back to him in flashes. The bank robbery. The four metahumans. The rock monster at the junkyard. He remembered the pain of the blow against his head.

Now all he could see was the crumbling moldy tile of the ceiling above him as water slowly formed together in to another drop above him. It reminded him of the gym shower, but so much dirtier. And considering how bad the gym showers were, that meant a lot.

Will still couldn’t get his arms to move. He tried to raise his head, but as he brought it up, he felt pressure against his neck. Some kind of strap. Will wiggled his arms, again, feeling the bonds on them as well.

What the heck was going on?

A shadow loomed across the tiles above him. Whoever had done this to him was still in the room.

“Good.” The voice was rough, almost growling. “It’s about time you woke up.”

“Who are you?”

His captor leaned over Will, finally showing his face. The face was shaped like any other human, but was a strange shade of gray. Darker protrusions of granite shot out from the top of his head, giving a semblance of hair. The man (creature?) smiled at him, and Will gasped at the sharp jagged teeth that showed through.

“Don’t you recognize me?” the monstrous thing said.

Will realized that the monster did indeed look familiar. Though much larger, almost three times the size of a normal man, the features were the same as one of his idols. A man present on the day Will gained his own powers. Dr. Lynn Levin.

“Dr. Levin?”

“You are a bright one, boy.” Levin smiled again. “That was my name, before my transformation. But now… now I’m so much more.” He laughed at nothing in particular. “Now I’m more monster than man, and I am reborn. Humanity will bow before my power… the power of Stonecold.”

“Dr. Levin, you… you’re talking crazy.”

“Crazy? You haven’t seen anything yet, boy.” Stonecold turned away from the table, quickly leaving Will’s limited range of vision. “But you will soon enough.” The monster that was once Lynn Levin chuckled. “You will.”

Will heard a click and a moment later the lights around him flickered and died. Stonecold walked way, still chuckling, leaving Will alone in the darkness.

*****

Harmony Ledger soared over Federation, praying that the personal propulsion unit (her dad’s fancy term for her jetpack) didn’t give out on her mid-flight. She would rather be out with her friends; the hunt for this stupid flying saucer was absolutely pointless. Whoever or whatever was inside the thing didn’t want to be found, and they hadn’t hurt anyone. She didn’t even know why they needed to bother with the whole thing.

The communication unit on her belt chimed again. Couldn’t her dad let her be for just five minutes?

“Yes, dad,” she said.

“Find anything yet, honey?”

“I’d have called if I had. Dad, this is completely pointless-”

Harmony brought her vision back down at the ground as she tried her best not to roll her eyes at her father. Her eyes went wide as she looked down on the junkyard below as she shot past. It couldn’t be…

The saucer sat in the middle of a cleared field near the center of the junkyard. Why would the alien (if it was an alien) park it here?

“Dad, I’ve found it.” Harmony angled her flight down towards the saucer.

“Stay put, Harmony. The rest of the team will home in on your signal. Whatever you do, don’t make contact with the alien.”

Harmony wasn’t listening anymore. She landed only feet away from the saucer. No one, human or alien, was anywhere nearby. It didn’t make any sense, though. Why would its owner abandon the flying saucer?

She stepped closer to the strange vehicle, keeping herself ready for any sign of danger. None came, and she moved closer to the saucer. She reached out one hand and touched the side of the UFO.

Contact. The world went spinning around her as she felt the strange presence around her. Terror consumed her as images flashed around her of a monstrous beast and a teenage boy. The creature roared and turned right towards her.

Harmony fell back from the saucer, breaking contact. The boy was in trouble, UFO or no. She had to help him.

Harmony pulled her com-unit off her belt and dropped it to the ground. She had to rescue that boy, and she wouldn’t risk her father saying no. Activating her jet pack, she shot back in to the sky. She started across the city, hoping that whoever or whatever had gave her this strange vision would guide her just where she needed to go.

Doc Challenger flew down to the site only minutes later. Coal and Animale were only seconds behind him. The saucer and com-unit both sat silently. The alien had taken his daughter, and one way or another, he would see it pay.

*****

Will awoke, still alone, still in the dark. He didn’t remember falling asleep. His wrists and ankles still ached from prolonged periods of pulling against his restraints. He pulled against them again. He hadn’t even loosened them. Will fought back the panic rising in the back of his skull. Panic wouldn’t help him.

He needed to escape. For his own life, he had to escape.

Will focused on his left wrist, trying to visualize the leather restraint around his arm. Maybe, just maybe, he could use his power to free himself. Will had no idea how exactly the straps were fastened to the table. He just started to pull up on them with all the pressure he could exert, hoping the slab or the strap would break before his arm did.

The buckle proved to be the weak link. With a metallic snap, it broke free from the leather. Will pulled his arm up and away from the table. His bruised wrist hurt like hell, but he ignored it as he reached for the strap around his neck. It would take him a few moments to break out, but he would be free.

The lights flickered to life. No, not now. Will scrambled to pull the buckle free from his neck. He couldn’t let Levin, or Stonecold or whatever, to catch him. This was life and death now.

He raised his head, ready to send anything he could at Stonecold as he entered the room.

It wasn’t Stonecold. It was a girl. He recognized the reddish blonde hair and freckled face. Only this time, she wasn’t hitting his saucer with a furious blast of sound.

“Let’s get you out of here,” she said with a grin. She couldn’t be much older than he was. Will smiled back as she came to help him with the restraints.

“I’m Harmony,” she told him. She sighed. “I mean Soundwave, dang it. Dad says we should keep our real names secret.”

“Your secret’s safe with me. I’m Will.”

“How did you get here, Will?”

“It’s a long story,” he said. “Is Stonecold still here?”

“Who?”

“Big guy. About seven feet tall. Bony protrusions, discolored skin.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“We’ve got to hurry then, before he gets back.”

They both jumped as a shadow loomed at the door. Stonecold grinned down on them. “I do believe it’s a little late for that.”

*****

Doc Challenger frowned as Coal tried to lift the saucer free of the junkyard ground. No matter how much he strained, Coal couldn’t get it to budge. Challenger couldn’t understand it. His own tests showed that Coal could bench press in excess of twenty-five tons; the saucer should be nothing to him.

“Stop! Just stop!” He knew his anger showed as he barked the order of Coal, but he didn’t much care. His daughter was lost out there somewhere. For all they knew, she could somehow be trapped inside the saucer itself. Damn these aliens!

He couldn’t risk using his own teleportation powers without knowing what was inside the saucer, and no one could find any kind of opening on the outside of the craft. From the outside, it seemed to be a solid piece of metal.

He needed to find Harmony. If those aliens have done anything to his daughter, they would pay.

As if in response, the flying saucer rose from the ground. “Grab it,” Challenger yelled.

Coal turned back towards the craft, but it was well above him before he could get close enough to make a grab for it.

“Animale, follow it, and whatever you do, don’t lose it!”

His nephew was already shifting in to the form of a bald eagle. He soared up and after the rapidly rising saucer. The saucer shot off through the air, and both it and Animale disappeared past a pile of junk.

“Come on,” Challenger yelled to Coal. “Let’s get clear of this junk. As soon as that saucer and Animale come to a stop, I will teleport us in and we’ll give those aliens a smashing like they’ve never seen!”

Coal grinned. “Now you’re talking my language, Doc.”

*****

Before Will could even collect his thoughts, his ears exploded. Or at least, that’s how it felt. The girl, Harmony (no, Soundwave, he reminded himself), shot a blast of concentrated sound in to the chest of Stonecold. It struck him square in the chest like a sledgehammer and the hulk-like monster stumbled under the blow.

“Come on,” Soundwave yelled. Will didn’t need to be told twice. He ran past the staggered beast only a few feet behind her. The hallway beyond was long, barren, and empty except for a closed steel door at the far end.

“How the hell did you ever find me down here?” Will asked as they continued to run as fast as possible.

Soundwave turned back towards him. “Believe it or not, a spaceship told me.”

“I’ve heard weirder,” Will said.

A sheet of bent metal flew them, only missing Will’s head by inches. He turned back towards his former cell. Stonecold was back on his feet, his face contorted with rage. He stepped forward towards them.

Stonecold started to run. And he ran faster than either of his young enemies.

“Crap,” Will said. “Go! Go! Go!”

Soundwave didn’t have to be told twice. She charged towards the steel door. She raised her arms towards it and unleashed another blast of concentrated sound.

The door buckled, but it didn’t break.

“Will, I think we’ve got a problem.” Will took his eyes off the charging Stonecold, and turned back to the sealed door.

“Hit it again,” Will yelled. Soundwave did so, but the door failed to move.

Will reached out to the door with his mind. He tried his best to pull the door out of its brackets, but it was fastened tight. He reached out even further. He needed the saucer. With it, he might still have a chance.

Stonecold just laughed as he closed the distance between them.