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. Its 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 him 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.
Chapter 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.
Chapter 6
The Fight for Life!
As he approached, Stonecold’s glimmering white teeth were all that Will Walden could see. Normal human teeth inside a being monstrous both physically and mentally.
Stonecold pulled a block of metal sheeting from the wall of the hallway and chucked it at Will and Harmony. Soundwave (Will reminded himself again to remember to use her codename) pushed Will behind her and unleashed a burst of concentrated sound. The chunk of metal twisted as it was hit by the burst and flew off to one side, crashing in to the wall with enough force to tear a whole straight through, exposing a layer of sod beneath.
“Dang! We’re underground!” Will didn’t really hear the concern in her voice. His focus remained elsewhere. His eyes remained focused on the approaching Stonecold’s malicious grin. But his main focus was elsewhere, on his own personal flying saucer as it winged through the Federation skies above, coming ever towards them.
“I’m going to kill you, girl,” Stonecold growled. “And I’ll make sure you never, ever walk again, little man. Both of you are fools for thinking to challenge me!” Stonecold started charging towards the teenagers.
The clang of impact from behind Harmony and Will brought the three combatants to a halt. All turned to the steel door and the sound of it tearing away from its mooring.
Will grabbed Harmony by the shoulders. “Get down.”
She dropped to the floor beside him just as the saucer slammed the door off its hinges.
Matt Ledger really didn’t have a clue where the strange flying saucer was going to lead him, but the Federation Museum of Science & Industry was fairly low on his list of choices. He couldn’t really argue with his (literally) eagle eyes as it crashed through the building. Looking around, Matt just thanked his lucky stars that no exhibit had taken any significant damage from the impact. The last thing he wanted to here at this point would be the Doc’s lecture about property damage and irreplaceable artifacts and whatever else.
He swooped down after the alien craft as it tore straight in to the building’s floor. He let himself return to human form and looked down in to the hole the craft had made. The saucer seemed to have opened the way to some kind of sub-basement under the museum proper. Matt didn’t quite know what to make of it.
Time to call in Uncle Theo, he thought. Matt keyed the com unit on his belt. “Animale to Doc and Coal.”
Coal’s gruff voice answered. “We read you, kid.”
“I’m at the Science Museum. The saucer’s currently underneath it.”
The sound of metal on metal impact drew his view back down to the sub-basement. “And I don’t know exactly what’s going on down there, but I think its time for Team Challenger to hop in to action.”
Coal didn’t answer for a moment. Matt could hear the faint sound of his uncle talking to his carbon-covered friend.
“You still there, kid.”
“I read you, big guy.”
“Doc says we’ve got an ETA of about five minutes. Like it or not, stay put to the cavalry arrives.”
The metal on metal shriek rang out again, this time followed by a horrible tearing noise.
“I’ll try,” Animale said, “but I don’t know if the UFO’s going to give me that kind of time.”
Stonecold turned just in time for the saucer to collide with his chest. He crumpled under the impact and Will whooped with excitement. The monster never knew what hit it.
“Quick,” Soundwave yelled. “We’ve got to get out of here before either that beast or the alien wakes up.”
Will smiled. “I don’t think we’ve got to worry about either one of them.”
The saucer began to shift. Will turned back towards it. He wasn’t moving it. That could only mean one thing.
Stonecold stood up, shoving the saucer aside. He smiled again, despite a large gash of rocky covering missing from his back. A dark puss leaked from the wound, but Stonecold seemed not to even notice.
“That wasn’t very nice now,” he said. “Here I invite you in to my home, Mr. Walden, and all you do is break things, invite your nasty little strumpet over, and try to kill me. Not very polite at all I must say.”
The freak had lost all connection to reality now. Will prepared himself for the forthcoming attack, but Soundwave pushed him back behind her.
“I’m the meta here. I’ll take the attack.”
Will pulled her back and turned her towards him. “Trust me,” he said. “I know what I’m doing, all right.” She nodded. “When I tell you, I want you to make a break for the UFO.”
“But-“
“No buts. You’ve got to trust me, all right?”
“Yeah.”
Stonecold made a show of cracking each knuckle as he closed in on them again. Will stepped back in front of Soundwave and started towards the monster. He hoped his own apparent bravado would distract Stonecold.
Will closed his eyes as Stonecold approached. He focused on his foe, and on every rock-like plate he could visualize in his head. The corridor came next, as he tried to remember every rend and tear in the structure left by their battle. He focused on those walls, the damage, and the raw sheets of metal lying about.
“Go,” he yelled out. “Go now!”
He pulled inward on all of it, focusing every in to one gravitational center, right on Stonecold’s back. The screech of metal as it tore free from the walls all at once proved nearly deafening. He prayed Harmony heard his cry as he started towards the saucer.
He kept his eyes closed as he ran, as he heard the first sounds of metal hitting Stonecold’s rock hide. He continued forward, hoping his own attack wouldn’t send a sheet of metal flying through him.
Will opened his eyes, just in time to avoid smashing face first in to the saucer. Harmony was already climbing on top of it as the entire tunnel came apart around them. Will felt the hatch open as he climbed on top of it.
“Get in,” he said. Harmony looked at him, as if the prospect of entering the saucer was far more frightening the destruction around them. “Do it!”
She started to climb down in to the small hatch as Will clamored up beside her. He pushed her in and jumped in behind. The saucer’s hatch closed behind him. A moment later, a sheet of metal flew past where Will’s head had been only moments before.
Will sat just behind Harmony who sat hunched over with both arms wrapped tightly around her knees. Will hoped she would be all right.
He looked back up at Stonecold, barely visible as metal, wood, and dirt flew at him from all directions. He flailed around, trying to fend off the attacks as best as he could, but it was far too much for him. Impact after impact slipped past his defense, tearing away more of his hide.
A rumbling brought Will’s vision up and he saw the very roof, now nearly barren of metal, as it began to shift above them. Will forced the saucer in to the air. Will let his assault on Stonecold fade. A second later, the saucer shot backward out of the tunnel and in to the museum proper.
The tunnel collapsed behind them as they shot off in to the sky.
Animale couldn’t believe his eyes as he watched the museum collapse in upon itself. Soundwave was—
He pushed the thought from his mind. He needed to focus on keeping the collapse from taken any more lives. He swooped down to the still unstable ground. He shifted from eagle in to gorilla form and began work on stabilizing one of the collapsing pillars. Even with the greater strength of his ape form, it took a great deal of effort to wedge it in to place as the police officers and rescue workers on scene from the previous damage could pull back.
As the last normals left the scene he let the pillar fall, switching in to the form of a jay as it came down. He flew up and out of the museum. The ground began to rumble again.
Not again, he thought.
The UFO shot out of the wreckage. Animale barely had time to flap out of the way as it blasted up and in to the Federation sky. He could do nothing but watch it disappear in to the horizon and pray for the safety of Harmony Ledger.
Will settled the saucer down just outside of Middlebury High School. He figured their shared school would be the best place to leave Harmony without revealing too much to her teammates.
“Thanks,” he said to her just after they touched down. “I don’t think I would have made it through all that if you hadn’t arrived.
“Don’t worry about it,” Harmony said. “It’s sort of my family’s job.”
“Are you going to tell them about me?”
She shook her head. “I’ll tell them you’re a meta, not an alien, but I’ll leave it at that. No need for them to know if you don’t want them too. You could join us though, instead.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. I think it’s time for me to pull back on the whole metahero thing and focus back on school. I’ve only been doing this for a week and I’ve nearly died three times already.”
Harmony laughed. “You get used to it after awhile.”
Will gave the cockpit a nudge with his mind and it slid open. “Will I see you again?”
“Be sure of it,” Harmony said. “We go to the same school after all.”
She smiled and waved as Will took the saucer back in to the sky. He would have to find a new hiding place for the vehicle, but Will already knew he wouldn’t be giving up the hero game just yet. Good or bad, these powers and his vehicle were the best things to ever come in to his life, and he would prove himself worthy of the responsibility.
UFO was here to stay.
Nicholas Ahlhelm is an avid writer as well as the editor and administrator of both Metahuman Press and Pulp Empire. Even with projects like Out For Vengeance, Living Legends, and Timeline appearing at MHP, he still finds time to write the webcomic Arc.