New York City

Kevin got dressed and ready to go. It was a very important day. And best of all school was out.

He walked into the kitchen and made some quick toast for breakfast.

“Are you doing okay, Kevin? I didn’t get to talk to you much yesterday.” It was his Aunt Ruth. She was sipping on some coffee while reading the newspaper. His mother had already gone to work.

“Uh… yeah, everything is fine. Why?” Kevin was not sure why Aunt Ruth was acting so concern.

“Well, Kevin, those ultras terrorized your school yesterday. If it weren’t for Prime – “

Kevin interrupted her, “Oh yeah! I really didn’t catch much of the excitement really.” He almost forgot that in order to hide his identity, he should probably act like it affected him. In reality, he was getting used to stuff like that happening. To him, the entire event was a good thing. Prime looked good, and school was canceled.

“It must be strange having Prime visit both your school in Canoga Park and here. Of course, he acted like much more of a hero here.”

“Right… uh, Aunt Ruth, I gotta go.”

“Where are you going?”

“To a friend’s house!” Kevin shouted as he raced toward the front door.

“Okay, Kevin, but be sure to get home early. Tonight is your mother’s birthday and we’re going to go out to eat somewhere real nice.”

“Sure thing, Aunt Ruth!” he responded as he ran out the door.

Kevin appreciated his Aunt Ruth. As much as he missed his dad, he could tell his mom was a lot happier here in New York with her sister. Aunt Ruth had a way of calming his mom whenever something strange happened in their life or in the city because of Kevin’s alter identity at Prime.

Things were going well for Kevin and Prime these days. The public loved Prime. And Kevin was doing much better in school, socially and academically. He actually had friends. Of course, he was not really going to a friend’s house just then, at least not yet. No, he had another matter to attend to, meeting up with Carol Phade.

The prospect of dating Carol Phade was tempting for Kevin. He could tell that she was attracted to Prime. Of course, she did not know he was really thirteen year old Kevin Green. Still, it’s not every day that a top notch reporter falls in love with a super hero. Right?

Kevin snuck into an empty alley next to the diner he would soon be meeting with his friends in. He dropped his backpack and stripped, putting the clothing into the backpack, then transformed into Prime. He would come back for the backpack when it was time to be Kevin again.

Prime jumped into the sky and flew down toward Manhattan, where he found the Channel 4 News Station. Carol Phade was just walking outside to get a breath of fresh air. Prime looked at her and smiled. She was so beautiful.

Then he began to feel the weirdness of the situation. She was thirty and, although she did not know it, he was only thirteen. How could he do this? Would he even be able to pretend to be someone she could really like?

But all Carol Phade could think of was him, of Prime. How could she let her journalistic integrity fall apart like that? But she was willing to give her entire career up to be with him.

Suddenly, Prime swooped down. “Good morning, Miss Phade.”

His voice was deep and heroic. But there was something very small and innocent about him. “Please, call me Carol.”

“Well, Carol, if you don’t have any plans…”

“No, I don’t!” She said quickly, before realizing how stupid she sounded.

“I was… uh… wondering if you wanted to go for a ride.”

“Yes, I would love a ride,” she smiled.

He reached out his arm and wrapped it around her waist.

And then they were off into the sky, flying among the clouds and around the skyscrapers with all the onlookers watching from below.

Carol could not believe what was happening. At first, she was a little scared of the flying but soon felt very safe. Prime made her safe. Prime made New York safe. One way or another, she would have Prime. They would be together. The longer they flew together, the more obsessed she became.

As they silently soared across the city, Prime had other thoughts in his mind. He couldn’t help but realize how strange this all was. She was thirty! He was only thirteen. How could it ever work out? Besides, he remembered what happened when he got so close to Kelly. What if this just ruined another person’s life because of him? He could not put her through that.

They finally made their way back to the news station and made a soft landing.

“That was… amazing,” she said quietly.

“Carol, I…”

But she spoke before he could finish. “Prime. I have so many questions.”

Kevin was relieved. Perhaps he had misread Carol’s motives; they could just be friends.

“For one, why are you?”

“What?” Prime asked dumbly.

“Why are you here? Why do you do this?”

“Oh…” Kevin realized he never really thought about that. He just was. He did not ask for these gifts. He thought about when the first time he transformed into Prime was. He remembered Kelly. He remembered saving her from a pervert gym coach.* “I guess to help people, really.”

(* See Prime: A New Twist #1)

He felt like an idiot. He was supposed to be the greatest ultra in the world and yet his best answer was ‘to help people.’ He should have something creative, heroic, super like ‘I’m here to fight for truth, justice, and the American way.’

Carol Phade felt like she could read his mind. He seemed interested in her. And by his answer, he was not really there for an interview.

“Listen, Prime, would you like to go for a drink or something?”

It was becoming clear to Kevin. This was a mistake. He felt awful leading her own. “Oh, no thanks. I never drink when I fly… The truth is, Miss Phade. I should not have come here.”

“No, Prime, it’s okay.” She gently took a hold of his arm.

“You don’t understand. We’re different. You’re well, a TV reporter. A news woman. And I’m…” He almost let it slip. He was thirteen. “I’m an ultra.”

Carol let go of him. She felt her eyes were almost ready to tear up.

“I gotta go.” Before saying another word, he flew back into the sky.

And Carol Phade was left alone. She had lost him. He did not want her… because she was not an ultra. “Things change,” she whispered to herself.

Prime flew back to the alley and transformed back into young Kevin Green. He wiped the green goop off his naked body with a towel in his backpack. Kevin then promptly dressed in his clothes and entered the diner where he was meeting his friends.

Cory and John were already sitting down in the diner when Kevin showed up.

“Hey Kevin!” John said.

“How are you doing guys?” Kevin asked as he sat down. He felt a little down. He still could not believe what he had just did. When he got up this morning, he had no idea he would be rejecting a beautiful woman.

“Oh, we’re doing good now that school is out for a day,” John responded.

“Yeah! Wasn’t that so cool yesterday, Kevin?” Cory asked excitedly. “We actually saw Prime up close!”

“It was pretty awesome, Cory,” Kevin responded with a smile.

Suddenly, their other companion showed up with a friend by her side.

“Hey guys,” Stephanie said with a bright smile. “Look who I brought!”

“Oh, hi Mike!” John and Cory chimed together, as they were surprised to see Michael Hardaway walking beside Stephanie.

“How’d this happen?” Cory asked as he gave Mike a big hug.

“It’s a long story… but my dad actually found a way to cure me. I can walk now!” He exclaimed. He did not bother to tell them more about his father’s miraculous cure and the many benefits it gave him.

Stephanie then turned Mike toward Kevin. “Mike, I want you to meet our newest member of the gang. He recently moved here from California.”

Kevin and Mike shook hands. Mike could not put a finger on it, but he felt comfortable around Kevin. It was as if they shared something in common. As if Kevin experienced all of the strangeness and confusion that Mike had experienced his entire life with not being able to walk and not knowing who he was.

“Well, you guys order me a chocolate malt,” Stephanie said, “I’m going to go to the restroom.”

The four guys sat down as the lone girl of the group went to the restroom.

“Mike, you know, Stephanie totally digs you,” John said.

“What do you mean?” Mike asked, as if he did not realize it.

“She likes you… and now that you’re normal…” he responded with a nudge.

Inside, Mike scoffed at the notion or normalcy. Was that really possible? He knew for a while that Stephanie liked him. He tried to find a way to like her back, but it never worked. “I don’t really have time for girls,” he said as an excuse.

John sighed. “None of you guys care about girls.”

This statement evidently made Cory squirm a little in his seat.

“How about you?” John asked, as he turned over to Kevin.

“Oh, well… I really don’t know any girls I like either,” he responded. It sounded very artificial to the group. Mike wondered.

“Well, did you ever have a girl back in Canoga Park?” John asked.

Part of Kevin felt like mentioning Kelly. It had been a while since he talked with anybody about her. But he did not really want to get into all the details, nor could he explain how his alternate ego as Prime ruined that relationship… which was admittedly already ruined.

“No, not really.”

Kevin walked home from the local diner. His friends had other plans for the day, but Kevin could not go with them. He did not want to disappoint his mother. She had been through so much recently. He and his dad had to lie and cover up everything that had happened to him, with him turning into Prime. And the lies cost his parents their marriage, or at least had jeopardized it for the time being. He wanted her to have a good birthday and a good life in New York City.

But Kevin could not stop thinking of Kelly.

Canoga Park

Kelly couldn’t stop thinking of him. Kevin Green had clearly changed the course of her life. But she knew she could not stand having him in her life anymore. She could not stand having Prime in her life.

“Billy, it is time for you to go to bed,” Kelly warned. She and her mother were babysitting Billy Stephens for the week as his mother went attended on a family emergency. Currently, Kelly’s mother was not home either though. A rather usual occurrence.

Billy was watching a Maxi-Man cartoon. It was his favorite show. Kelly did not much like the show. It was probably because some creature in the likeness of the cartoon attacked a few weeks earlier. Of course, she did not know this was all because of the seven year-old she was babysitting and his remarkable imagination.*

(* This is all explained in the Maxi-Man Special #1, which reprints the essential parts from Prime: A New Twist in which this occurred!)

Somewhere in New York City

“We are very pleased you have decided to assist us. We know relations have not been great between our government and yourself in the past.”

“Yes, you tried to kill me.”

“Those were different times now. With your experience, I know you understand the difficult choices we have to make on a regular basis.”

“We all have to make difficult decisions. Listen, the only reason I have agreed to work with you is because we now have a common enemy. But let’s make this clear. My fight is for the people… not for the government. When I saw what happened to Lady Liberty*, I knew I was needed.”

(* See Prime: The New Adventures #1!)

“Well, sir, I believe you will soon be pleased to find our intentions are much more noble than you imagine. Our purposes are very much the same. Welcome to Aladdin, soldier.”

Kevin was taking a shower. His mind was racing with thoughts. He knew rejecting Carol Phade’s flirtations was the right thing to do. If for no other reason than that she was nearly three times his age and it would be very illegal. But now his thoughts were circling around Kelly. Would he ever be able to love another girl? Or would he always have to be worried about ruining their life… because of Prime.

Suddenly, the shower door opened. Staring right at his naked body was his Aunt Ruth.

“Hi, honey, you about ready?” she asked with a mischievous grin.

Kevin was quick to cover up his essentials. “Aunt Ruth, I’m… in the shower.”

“I’ve seen it all before, darling.”

This was not her normal self. But Kevin was not sure how to react. “I’ll be down soon.”

Kevin, his mother, and his aunt all headed out to dinner. Kevin was lost as to what was going on with his aunt, but he would not let it weird him out. He wanted this birthday to be perfect for his mother.

After sitting at the restaurant, Mrs. Green soon dismissed herself to go to the restroom.

Kevin was nervous sitting across his aunt, after she barged into him while he was taking a shower. He thought about going to the restroom himself, so he would not be left alone with her.

“You don’t need to go to the restroom, Kevin,” a voice called out to him. It was the same voice he had heard before, at the Statue of Liberty and his school when they were attacked.*

(* See Prime: The New Adventures #1 and #2!)

“What?!” he asked out loud before realizing his aunt may think that is weird.

“I won’t bite you. If you do what you’re told, things will work out fine. No more of your family will be hurt.”

“What are you talking about?”

He then heard the voice of his aunt. “I must say, inhabiting the body of your aunt had been quite nice” She then sighed as she squeezed her two breasts.

“Who the hell are you?”

“My name is Mind Shaper, Kevin. And you are going to help me take over the world… or at least terrorize it for a while.”

“I’m not going to do shit for you! You get out of her.”

He laughed from within his aunt’s body. “Kevin, let me tell you about myself. I can enter the mind of anyone I wish to enter and shape it to my own desires while I occupy it. But, dear boy, as soon as I leave… that mind is shut down. That person is dead forever.”

“If you kill my aunt, I’ll – “

“Prime, don’t you see? Your aunt is already dead.” In the body of his aunt, the Mind Shaper made a wave at Kevin’s mother as she made her way toward the table from across the restaurant. “But if you don’t do what I tell you to when I tell you to, your mother will be next.”

Kevin looked over to his mother in horror. He then looked back at his aunt, only to find her head flat against the table dead.

Martha Green quickly ran to her sister’s side, trying to see what happened to her.

“Kevin, what happened?” she asked in a panic.

“I don’t know, mom,” he answered with concern in his voice, “she was just talking and then…”

Mrs. Green began to cry. “Somebody, call an ambulance!” she yelled, as everyone in the restaurant curiously looked at them as if it were some show.

A waiter rushed to their table and tried to calm Mrs. Green down. “Don’t worry, mam, everything will be fine. We have called an ambulance.” He then made a purposeful glance toward Kevin and winked.

Kevin knew who it was. His mother was not safe.

The United Nations met to discuss the growing concerns about ultras in the world. Ultras were popping up everywhere. Some created by freak accidents, others given their gifts purposefully, and some mysteriously being born with their abilities.

The roof up the UN Building suddenly exploded apart.

“Attention, nations, I have an announcement to make!” yelled the criminal responsible. “Prime is putting you all on notice! The world will now answer to a new leader.”

Then, from the back of the assembly’s chambers the doors swung open with a blue and gold armored man on the other side.

“Not so fast. Your threats are meaningless as long as Liberty lives and breathes.”

Most of the assembly was not familiar with this “new” ultra. But some were very familiar with stories and tales of him, of Liberty – the Legend of World War II!

TO BE CONCLUDED...

Now, check out the startling conclusion in Prime: The New Adventures #4 - PRIME vs. LIBERTY! Also, be sure to see Liberty – Legend of World War II for more information on Liberty’s past. And please e-mail me at jamespedrick@yahoo.com with any comments.