Prime: A New Twist #2

Prime: A New Twist #2
July, 1998

"It's PRIME Time!"

Written by James Pedrick
Based on plot for Prime Vol. 1 #1
Edited by Mike Aragona and Mike Engber
Created by Gerald Jones and Len Strazewski
Property of Malibu Comics

<< I don't know where he came from. I'm just teaching my daily gym class when this . . . THING comes crashing in through the ceiling! He was huge! His muscles were like twice the size of any wrestler, and he was wearing some sort of outfit. It was gold, like armor, with a red cape. Something out of a comic book! At first, I didn't know what the heck he was after, but then he grabbed ME and accused ME of touching one of my students. . . >>

"PRIME is gonna make you PAY!" Anger rushed through Prime's massive body. As Kevin Green, he couldn't punish Coach Meyers for what he did to Kelly, but as Prime, he was a man. A man that could make that pervert pay!

With his left arm holding Coach Meyers off the ground, Prime threatened him with his right fist. "Admit it Coach! Admit what you did to these girls!"

By this time, all but two of those girls had left the gym in a panic.

"Come on, Kelly! Let's get outta here!" screamed Courtney, as she pulled on her best friend, fearing for both their lives.

"Wait! He's talking about . . . us!" she replied.

<< I tried to tell him the truth, no way would I be touching little girls, but he wouldn't listen . . . >>

"I... I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Don't lie to me!" Kevin couldn't believe it. Coach Meyers, this tough, invincible god in Kevin's mind, was afraid. Frightened. Of him. Of Prime! And Kevin loved it! No longer was he being bossed around. He wasn't taking orders. He was in charge. He was in control. HE had the power now.

<< Then he slapped me. It was just a simple slap, I don't think he meant to really hurt me . . . but it cost me three teeth and flattened my nose. It was like . . . he didn't even know his own strength. >>

"I saw you after lunch! I saw what you did to those girls . . . TOUCHING THEM!" Kevin was angry. He tried not to get too violent, but he couldn't control it. It was as if something had taken him over. At that moment in time, a young boy named Kevin Green was no more, there was only PRIME. And Kelly and Courtney stood watching, their mouths wide open. How did he know? How could he have seen that? Feelings of fear and horror clashed with feelings of relief and amazement.

<< I thought the guy was going to kill me, so I tried to defend myself. I was an ex-marine; I could hold my own. So, I tried to kick him. When he flinched and jumped back, I figured I had found his weak spot or something. I don't know, maybe he was trying to mess with my head. Or maybe he didn't know what he could take. But, when I kicked him, my ankle snapped. It was like he was a rock! He was still unhurt, while my ankle was broken! Then he grabbed me. I tried to struggle with him, but couldn't hurt him. Not even when I hit him in the balls . . . >>

"You're going to pay!" Prime grabbed him by the throat. "Admit it! I'm not leaving until you confess!"

Prime pushed forward on Coach Meyers and accidentally bent his arm backwards. Without meaning to, he had snapped Coach Meyers's arm out from its joint at the elbow.

"Oh . . . JEEZ! I didn't mean to . . . oh God!" Prime didn't know his own strength. He backed away, as Coach Meyers lay on the floor, crying out, trying to stop the pain. Prime had to get out of there. This had gone way out of control. He turned around. There was Kelly, just staring. She was afraid. She was afraid of him.

"Kelly, RUN! He's gonna kill us!" Courtney ran toward the exit, trying to pull Kelly with her, but she couldn't. Kelly was just stiff. She was scared.

"Kelly. Don't be afraid . . . He deserved this for what he did to you!" he said.

She just stood there. "Don't be afraid! I'm here . . . to protect you!"

<< It was like he was in love with the girl. And then he accuses me of touchin' girls. The nerve. Heh . . . she'd probably give him WHATEVER he wanted too.>>

His story was over. A voice rang from the dark room above, "Thank you, Mr. Meyers. You may go now."

Tony Meyers didn't know which was weirder, being attacked by an ultra-powered superhero or getting paid five-thousand dollars by some strangers to talk about it! But he wasn't going to complain. He didn't know how that fellow knew about what he had done to those girls, but he did know that he wasn't going to spend another minute in Canoga Park or JFK High School as long as he was there. The crippled Tony Meyers stood up, took his crutches and left the dark interrogation room to collect his reward.

"I can't believe you let that scum go with our money."

"Why not? He gave us valuable information in return."

"But you know he was lying about touching those girls!"

"I know, but he won't be having any sexual urges . . . sex of any sort any longer. I `fixed' him with a small radiation beam as he was speaking."

"Oh."

"Send in our next `scum'"

A black fellow walked in. He was a drug dealer usually attired in expensive clothes and jewellery. Today, he was wearing a neck brace. He, too, was surprised to find himself offered five thousand-dollars, just for telling his story about how Prime wrecked
his crack house. As he walked into the dark room, he heard a voice from above. "Please sit down."

There was a chair in the center of the room. He walked over to it and took a seat.

"Please, tell us about Prime."

"Prime? Okay, here's the deal. We're making our regular . . . transactions of . . . products."

"You mean drugs?"

"Hey, you said it, not me . . . Anyway, this guy pops in through the roof and starts tearing things up . . . "

"No more CRACK!" Prime was furious. He knew what these punk drug dealers had done to his best friend's neighbourhood and family. Drugs had ruined people's lives. Kevin Green couldn't stop it, but Prime could. Prime pushed away furniture and anything else in his path, as he came up to the table where the drug dealers were making their "stuff."

"No more drugs . . . ANYWHERE!" Prime smashed the table in two, destroying the drugs and supplies.

<< He was just smashing things. He cost me thousands of dollars worth of . . . products and supplies. We had to waste this fellow . . . so he wouldn't hurt anyone else, of course . . . >>

<< ...Bullets just bounced off him! Some hit, but it was like . . . he absorbed him into his body. Then he did something I only saw in comics. He clapped his hands and this shockwave knocks us all over and lets off some sort of high-pitched sound . . . >>

<< The others ran out of there, but not me. I pulled out a flamethrower . .. we use it for urban renewal jobs. But it made no difference, he just kept moving forward . . . >>

<< ...Until he took the flamethrower and actually wrapped it around my body. And it was friggin' hot too! And then, here's the weird part, he started spinning. Spinning like, like that one Tasmanian guy on the toons. Anyhow, he just spins and the whole house tears apart, as if a tornado hit it! Then he just flies off . . . in the air! >>

"And that is how I got this stupid neck brace on me!"

"Is that all?"

"No . . . not quite. I also got a souvenir." The drug dealer held up a vial, "I got myself a piece of the sucker, some type of goop that came outta him."

"His bodily fluids?"

"Yeah, whatever. I bet you're . . . interested in it."

"Extremely. I will pay you extra."

"I bet you would. Hmm . . . I'm thinking it's worth . . . hmm . . . an extra $5000?"

"Fine."

"WO! Looks like you got money to burn. Maybe $10,000 would be a better price."

But, at that moment, Doctor Gross did not feel like bargaining with this scumbag. Doctor Gross just wanted HIS Prime.

"Hey! What the heck?!?" Straps emerged from his seat, wrapping around the drug dealer's chest and arms. "Lemme go! What are you doing? Hey watch it! That hurts! Okay, okay, I get the picture, you can have the vial!"

"Oh, I'll have the vial. There is no question about that. The only question now is whether I let you live or not."

And, with one press of the button, Doctor Gross sent electricity through the drug dealer's seat and into his body. His head fell and smoke rose from his burnt body as the vial dropped to the ground.

A door opened and a man walked to the chair to pick up the vial from the ground. The balding man was middle-aged and overweight. He was a doctor, a genius. "Duey, do you know what this means?"

"No sir, Doctor Gross. What?"

"He is losing his stability. He's been unseen for hours. I don't know how much longer it will be before he . . . "

Then a voice yelled out from upstairs, "Sir, I think you better come see this. Quick!"

Doctor Gross quickly ran upstairs to see what it was.

"Sir, it's Prime. The news says they have a special report coming up concerning him."

They watched the TV set with hungry eyes as the reporter began speaking. "Thank you, Bob, I'm standing here in Southern California, just 20 miles south of Canoga Park, where Prime has reportedly entered this grocery store behind me to try to rescue eighteen people held hostage by a militia group. While this seems like an heroic act, many police officials say this is NOT the right way to handle a hostage situation and that Prime may even be putting the hostages in more danger. This also raises more concerns as to if Prime and ultras like him do more harm than good. Doubts to Prime's stability have increased as he has, since his appearance earlier today, crashed and then rescued an airplane, tackled a high school gym coach, and destroyed a drug house. This is Carol Phade with GNS News."

A small town, 20 miles south of Canoga Park "Okay, busters, drop the guns." Prime had been flying around minutes earlier, when he saw a grocery store surrounded by police vehicles. He flew down to see what the commotion was about and found out that a militia group was holding hostages. Prime decided he would handle it. His way.

Now, he was standing face to face with five men holding machine guns and deadly explosives. Prime wasn't scared. Nothing could scare him now that he was the most powerful ultra in the world.

"Not a chance. I don't know who you are, but we're here fighting for our rights, and we're not giving up until you commies give us back our freedom."

"Listen here, fellow, these are innocent people. And PRIME defends the innocent and fights the freaks . . . like you!"

"Freaks are we?!?" The leader yelled back angrily. Nobody was going to call him a freak for what he believed in. He was going to fight for his rights, even if he had to kill for them. "Okay, shoot him!"

The five men fired dozens of rounds at Prime. None of the bullets seemed to hurt him, but many were putting holes in him.

"Is THAT the best you can do?" Prime quickly grabbed one of them and knocked him out, while one of the others ran out the door to surrender. Still, the others continued to fire at him.

"This isn't doing any good." The leader took a grenade from his pocket and yelled, "Everyone duck!" as he threw it at Prime.

Prime easily caught it and held it in his hand. It exploded and as the smoke settled, Prime still stood there. His body was melting, but he was still fine.

"Heh-heh, is that it?" he laughed. "Now you're going to pay!" Prime grabbed him as the other two ran outside, in fear that Prime would kill them.

"Don't you ever do this again!" Prime yelled. He dropped the leader on the ground, who then quickly rushed for the door.

"You people are safe now. Prime has saved the day."

The eighteen people rose up from the ground. One young boy said, "Hey, um . . . man, do you realize you're melting."

Prime looked down at his body. It was covered with holes and melting away.

"OH . . . GOD!!!" `I'm falling apart,' he thought. Without even a good bye, he flew out through the roof.

Prime flew toward Canoga Park. "I gotta get home, before . . . " He was almost there, but he wasn't going to make it. He couldn't control himself. He was too weak. He fell downwards and crashed into a building.

"Ugh . . . I gotta . . . get . . . outta here."

The body around him was melting away. Soon, it was unrecognizable. And, from the melted flesh and goop, a young boy's body could be made out. He struggled to get out. He couldn't breathe. He was trapped, but after much struggling, he managed to tear through. His naked body struggled to get away from the goop and flesh which had trapped him. He had been a superhero all day; it was like a dream. Although he knew it couldn't have been one, it was looking more and more like it was. Now, he was just Kevin Green once more.

"Man, what am I going to tell mom and dad?!?"

To Be Continued in Prime #3! Also get the scoop and images on Prime at the PRIME-TIME WEBSITE!

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