Eight men, wearing long black overcoats, came to the pier. Two entered a small boat, as they were instructed to. The other six began loading the boat with small crates. After all was ready, they began to move the boat forward toward the island ahead.

It did not take long, however, before a much larger boat came skidding its way. A speaker sounded from the larger boat, "This is the police. You are traveling in restricted area."

"I told you this would never work!" shouted one of the eight men.

Then the mysterious leader of the eight men came forward. "You must have more faith," he responded, while revealing his hands, which had fingers as sharp as claws and were surging with a bright pink glowing energy.

Meanwhile, back at the police boat, the captain came up to the front, "What seems to be the problem?"

"We have a boat heading towards the island, sir, without authorization," responded the officer.

The captain’s eyes then lighted red. "They do now." He pulled out a gun and immediately shot the officer. He then picked up the intercom.

The four other officers posted on the boat ran to the scene.

"What was that, Captain Stewart?" asked one, before realizing their captain had shot one of their partners.

The captain the slowly moved his hand from left to right.

The movement had a hypnotizing effect on the four, who then swerved forward in incredible pain. They bent down and held their heads in their hands, trying to stop the sharp pain. Blood began to come out of their noses and mouths, until they fell over dead.

The captain smiled, proud of his accomplishment. He then spoke into the intercom. "Forgive us. Please continue on your present course." Then the captain’s body fell over, as if life had simply left his body to go somewhere else.

"See, I told you everything would be fine," the leader said to his companions.

They then arrived on the island. The Statue of Liberty stood before them. The hours of business had not yet arrived, so tourists had not yet arrived. There were just security guards.

"Ah. The Statue of Liberty..." The leader looked up and sighed. "Now, men, let’s get to work!"

Somewhere on the Streets of New York City

Young Kevin Green stared out the window as his mother and Aunt Ruth drove him to his new school. He looked out the window. Across the waters he could see the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty had always been a favorite of his. It resembled hope and freedom. He didn’t get to visit it yet, but couldn’t wait to.

They arrived to his new school. Roosevelt Junior High. He was hoping this would be a better experience than his last school. He never was very popular, but when Prime entered his life, everything got even weirder and it was hard to keep that from the other kids.

Kevin exited the car and wove good-by to his mom and aunt. He then began his first day at his new school.

Upon arriving to his new homeroom class, he quickly sat in the back row, hoping not to draw too much attention on himself.

"We have a new student in the class." The teacher suddenly pointed out. "Could you please stand up and state your name and where you’re from?"

Kevin rose to his feet. "Yes... my name is Kevin Green and I’m from California." He said with a certain nervousness in his voice. He looked around the room and saw some friendly faces and some that weren’t quite so friendly. He noticed two jocks in the opposite corner whisper and joke with each other. He heard another call him a wimp.

Just like Canoga Park, he though. As he walked around the campus, he saw more evidence that is was deeply divided, between the popular jocks and the rest of the school’s population.

As he sat to eat lunch, he noticed all of the jocks and cheerleaders sitting at one side of the cafeteria and everyone else on the other. He sat down and was quickly greeted by three of the other students.

"Hey, Kevin," said one girl. "My name is Stephanie." Kevin looked up, as she and her friends sat down across from him. She had sandy blonde hair and wore glasses. "These are my friends, John and Cory." They each waved.

"So, Kevin, what’s it like in California?" asked John.

Kevin laughed. "It’s pretty much the same. People dress a little different, though, and everything is more spread out."

Cory added, "And they have ultras!" Cory was a very skinny and a little short, with blonde hair and big glasses.

"He’s really into ultras. He reads about them all the time," said John, who was more round than the other two with dark black hair.

"Yeah! Did you hear about Prime being spotted with the Strangers?"

"Yeah." Kevin responded, "I used to live where Prime lived... in Canoga Park."

"So, have you selected your electives yet?" Stephanie interrupted, tired of hearing about ultras.

"No. I am after lunch."

"Here, we’ll help you," John said.

"Yeah... just don’t take Mr. Windell’s computer class!" warned Cory.

Liberty Island

The eight men began to unload the crates from the boat to the island. "Sir, won’t the security guards see us?" one of the men asked.

"Do not worry," answered the leader, just as one of the guards began to come over to where they were unloading.

The man then pulled out a gun and aimed it at the guard.

The leader quickly slashed it out of his hands with one of his ultra-powered claws. "I said, don’t worry!" He then moved forward to greet the officer.

"You are behind schedule," the officer said, "You must get to work, the poor-minded humans will not notice your presence until the time comes," he added, pointing toward the other guards.

The eight men then began to arm themselves and were carrying heavy backpacks.

"Yes, sir." The leader then motioned towards the statue. "Let’s get moving, men!"

They made their way up to the statue. All the while the security guards stood there, not noticing a thing.

The men then continued up toward the top of the statue. It was soon going to be time for tourists to arrive.

Back in New York City...

Kevin strolled the streets of his new home. He just got out of school. And though he could see that he wasn’t going to be very popular among the jocks, he already had more friends than he did in California.

He walked along the shops. He told his mother he would be home late because he would be browsing the city. This time he was telling the truth. He hadn’t had chance to explore since moving here.

As he walked up by the harbor, he wondered how he would introduce this city to his other identity, Prime. Then he heard a loud noise.

He looked around. Everyone had ducked to the ground. Then he saw one man point out and yell, "Look!"

Kevin looked to see what the man was pointing at. It was the Statue of Liberty! He watched in disbelief, as the arm holding the torch of liberty fell to the ground with a large fire blazing around it.

Liberty Island

Crowds ran, as the torch fell onto the island and fire burnt around it. Shots then ranged out into the air. Security officers tried to lead people to safety onto the boats, while having themselves armed and ready for action.

But then one of the security guards, whose eyes had turned a bright red, raised his hands.

Immediately, the other officers turned their weapons against the crowd, as if they had lost control over their own actions.

The people screamed. They didn’t know what had happened or what would happen. Most froze in place, many of them crying, while others were searching for friends and family they had come here with.

Meanwhile, a news helicopter had now made its way over the scene, recording the images and sounds for the whole world to see and hear.

Suddenly, everyone paused at the sound of two more shotgun shots. They looked forward to see that the shots had come from two men standing to the sides of another, who was wearing a dark coat and hood.

The man standing in the center then let down his hood. It revealed an evil grin. The coat’s long sleeves hid his hands. As he then raised his arms into the air, sharp claws, surging with powers, were uncovered. The man could sense the growing fear in the crowd. They then heard his voice. "Greetings! I apologize for the interruption, but you are now in the middle of a hostage situation... and you are the hostages!" he said with a laugh. He then turned his attention to the direction of the helicopter. "City of New York! Here me! Pay us one billion dollars or these people and your precious statue will feel the power of Kutter!" He then showed the world his ultra-powered hands.

The words brought the entire crowd into panic.

Suddenly the man felt a tap on his shoulder. He swiftly turned around to find himself facing a large red and gold emblem. He then looked up.

It was Prime. "Your threats end now," he said with a deep, heroic voice.

"Who are you?!" the man screamed.

"I’m Prime!" he responded, while giving him a right uppercut and sending him flying ten feet in the air. "And you’re going to learn just what power is!"

The security guard then shouted, "Get him!"

Everyone armed then turned their attention to Prime, shooting their weapons at his gigantic body.

But the bullets were simply absorbed into his Prime skin. "Your bullets have no affect on me!" he roared, as he charged towards a group of armed men.

He took two of their heads and smashed them together. He then slapped another unconscious, while kicking another to the ground and disarming another. Then he grabbed one of the men by their jacket and threw them into the water. The remaining gunmen quickly scattered.

Kutter then climbed to his feet. "Now you’ve made me angry!" He exclaimed. "Let’s see how you fare against my claws!" He charged at Prime and used his claws to slice into Prime’s chest.

A green liquid goop began to leak from the slice he had made in his chest.

"What the hell are you?!"

Prime then looked as if he was taking a deep breath and holding it. His chest rose upward and the slashed were then mended together.

"Holy--" The ultra-powered terrorist tried to run away, but he was no match for Prime’s speed.

Prime flew in front of him and grabbed him by the collar and threw him on the ground.

Just as he was about to show him the full extent of Prime’s abilities, he heard a voice. "Stop, Prime! Join me!" He could feel the voice searching through his thoughts, trying to take control.

"Where are you?!" He shouted, demanding an answer.

But he received no response. He looked around, until he saw a dark shadowy figure within the body of a security officer.

The shadowy figure noticed the stare. No one could notice his presence, unless they were ultras.

"So, you are an ultra too." The voice said, "That explains why I cannot overpower your mind... It is too bad to see you are defending these disgusting creatures, but we will meet again."

The shadowy figure then disappeared, knowing he had lost the battle.

Prime watched as the officer’s body then fell to the ground dead.

A police boat then arrived to the island and a police helicopter was coming down for a landing. And with their arrival, Prime exited the scene.

Hours later...

The cold naked body of Kevin Green quietly climbed into the window of his room at Aunt Ruth’s apartment from the alley near by.

It was now dark out and Prime managed to change into Kevin without anyone noticing.

After getting dressed, he walked downstairs.

His mother and aunt were glued to the television news.

"This is awful! I just got away from those darn ultras in California!"

"Martha, I think we should be glad Prime showed up. Who knows what would happen to those poor people if he hadn’t."

The news then switched to the city’s mayor. "Today a great tragedy occurred, but we should be very proud that a hero like Prime showed up. He saved the city from an even greater tragedy."

Kevin smiled, he was honestly very proud of himself.

He was also very tired and another day of school waited for him the next morning.

CONTINUED IN ISSUE #2 - UNWELCOMED VISITORS

I hope you enjoyed this first issue of Prime: The New Adventures! Look for another exciting new adventure next month from Ultraverse: A New Twist. And please be sure to send me your comments or suggestions below, or e-mail me at jamespedrick@yahoo.com