Dr. Raymond Lightner’s Laboratory – 1936

Dr. Raymond Lightner performed the calibrations one final time. Everything had to be just right if his Sky Cannon was going to work. As he checked a coupling, the door to his lab opened.

“Raymond? Dinner!”

The unexpected intrusion caused the wrench in his hand to slip, shattering a nearby tube. Lightner stood up and turned to face the intruder.

“We’re having your favorite,” said his wife, Lucinda.

A black fury descended on Lightner and he backhanded his wife sending her crashing into the wall.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to bother me when I’m working!” he shouted.

Lucinda Lightner wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. Using the wall, she pulled herself to her feet and inched toward the door.

“I’m sorry Raymond. It won’t happen again.”

“Make sure it doesn’t!” he said, returning to his work.

Lucinda Lightner shut the door quietly behind her. She wept as she walked down the hall. She wondered what had happened to the man she married.

In the lab, Lightner removed the shattered coupling and walked to his work bench to find a replacement.

“If she continues to disturb us, you will have to deal with her.”

Raymond Lightner listened to the voice in his head. He had to. It was the voice that had shown him how to build the Sky Cannon. It was the voice that had promised him the power of a god.

“She won’t be a problem,” he said to himself.

“She had better not be. Soon you will have the power you so desire and I will have my revenge.”

Project: Pegasus – Now

Dr. Spectrum watched in horror as Hyperion was blasted to the ground by Wundarr.

Wasn’t it Wundarr who had, only moments ago, saved the life of Benjamin Jones from the Nth Man?

Now he was jabbering about Blacksun and attacking a teammate.

That’s all Dr. Spectrum needed to see.

As the ebony fire once again erupted from Blacksun’s hand, Dr. Spectrum created a shield of pure white energy around Hyperion. The flames licked helplessly at the edge of the shield.

Wundarr/Blacksun turned his attention from Hyperion to Dr. Spectrum.

“You wield the stone,” he said.

“Yeah, so?” replied Dr. Spectrum, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

“That makes you a threat,” said Wundarr, black flames flickering along his fingers.

“You wouldn’t be the first person to say that to me. Probably not the last either.”

“Beware of your tone mortal. Blacksun is not to be taken lightly.”

“Look, you showed up calling yourself the Aquarian. Then you wanted to be called Wundarr. Now you’re Blacksun. You’re going through names faster than Britney Spears on a Vegas bender.”

“SILENCE!” screamed Blacksun.

Fire erupted from his fingers. Dr. Spectrum pulled in his shield to intercept the flames. It worked, but he could still feel the unnatural heat.

“I’m going to have to think of something fast,” thought Dr. Spectrum, “or this clown is going to charbroil me.”

THE RETURN OF THE NTH MAN

Part IV

By Bruce Cook

Benjamin Jones watched in horror as the man who had just saved him attacked Hyperion and then Dr. Spectrum. He tried to pull away from his mother, but she held him tight.

“No!” she cried. “You can’t help them now!”

Benjamin knew she was wrong. Wundarr had shown him everything. And nothing. He had told Benjamin he would know what to do. Had he known this would happen? Benjamin thought back to the events inside the Nth dimension. He replayed the spell in his head.

“Of course!” he thought. “Blacksun was in my mind. He corrupted the spell. He transferred his power into Wundarr’s body.”

Benjamin knew that the power of the Aquarian now resided in him. He also knew what that power was capable of. He extended the null field that was now his to control. He extended it until it surrounded the body of Wundarr. The black flames flickered and died.

“Who dares?” said Blacksun, angrily.

“I do.”

Hyperion rose from the floor with an uppercut that sent Blacksun flying. He crashed through a nearby bed. Hyperion fell to his knees, his energy spent on the blow.

“Stop him Joe!” hissed Hyperion, clutching his mid-section.

Alien energy coursed through Joe Ledger’s body and manifested itself in his right hand. He pointed that hand in the direction of Blacksun.

“Stop!” said Benjamin Jones, stepping between them. “That’s exactly what he wants!”

Project: Pegasus – Elsewhere

Linda Lewis, the Squadroner known as Skylark, was sitting alone in her quarters when the alarm sounded. She tried desperately to ignore it. She was tired of fighting. She had lost everything when the Black Archer had died.

Her door flew open, dragging Skylark from her personal darkness.

“We’ve got a situation Linda!” said Power Princess. “I need your help…now!”

“Of course,” she replied, grabbing her wings from where they hung on the wall. “What is it?”

“I’m not sure! Let’s go!”

The two heroines sped down the hall.

Elsewhere

The alarm klaxon brought the Blue Shield back to consciousness. Protecting Project: Pegasus was his job. He couldn’t very well do that job lying on a gurney. He attempted to rise only to be driven back to down when the room started spinning.

“Are you okay Joe?”

The Blue Shield turned to see the Whizzer keeping pace with the gurney.

“I don’t think so. The Nth Man did a number on me.”

“According to security, he’s doing a number on the rest of the Squadron now. I need to help them.”

The Blue Shield reached out and grabbed the Whizzer by the forearm. He could feel the speedster’s muscles vibrating beneath his skin.

“Go to Level 17. Room 442B. That will help.”

The Blue Shield pulled an access card from his belt and handed it to the Whizzer.

“That will get you in.”

“Thanks Joe,” said the Whizzer, disappearing in a streak of black and yellow.

“Don’t mention it,” said the Blue Shield. Then he passed out again.

Earth-712 – Squadron City

The city sat quiet and empty. All necessary functions were overseen by AIDA, Tom Thumb’s Artificial Intelligence protocol. The wounded remained in stasis. Only one living being remained in Squadron City.

That is until now.

AIDA detected the breach, but her defensive programs were insufficient to stop the incursion. Her cameras ran, recording every second of the attack. Later, when she played them back, she wasn’t sure what had happened.

A rift had opened in Ape X’s room. The comatose cyborg ape sat alone as she did every day. A lone figure clad in shades of red had stepped through the rift and placed his hand on Xina’s chair. Then, in the blink of the camera eye, they had both disappeared.

Then there were no living beings left in Squadron City.

Project: Pegasus

“Get out of my way Benjamin!” said Dr. Spectrum.

“No,” the child replied calmly. “He wants you to use your power on him. It will make him stronger.”

“He’s just some second rate blaster,” said Spectrum. “I can take him.”

“He’s more than he appears to be!”

“How could you know that?”

“It is the gift, and the curse, of the Aquarian.”

Dr. Spectrum looked in Blacksun’s direction. The villain was slowly making his way back to his feet. Hyperion must have landed a good shot.

“Alright Benjamin, what is he.”

“He is a spirit of wrath. Of revenge. He tricked Dr. Lightner into freeing him from his imprisonment.”

“You’re saying he’s some kind of god? That’s just great.”

“Not a god. An agent of the divine. He was trapped between worlds by the Apparition when he went too far…”

“Wait! The Apparition? The big spooky ghost guy?”

“Yes. Now we must stop him.”

“How?” asked Dr. Spectrum.

“We must find a way to contain him.”

Black fire split the air and died as it hit the null field that surrounded Benjamin.

“You talk too much child. The time for words has long passed!”

Blacksun fired again.

Dr. Spectrum threw up an energy shield. When the black fire hit it, Spectrum screamed in pain.

“You should have listened to the child! I won’t go back in the stone!”

A translucent shield flew through the air and smashed into Blacksun’s face. Then it bounced off a nearby wall and back into Power Princess’ hand. The force of the blow staggered Blacksun.

“Now Linda!” shouted Power Princess.

Skylark flew across the room, wrapped her legs around Blacksun’s neck and pivoted. Blacksun flew through the air toward Power Princess. When he was close enough, Power Princess threw a hard cross punch that drove Blacksun face first to the ground.

The remaining Squadron members cautiously approached the downed villain.

“It couldn’t be that easy,” said Skylark.

Blacksun looked up at them, his black eyes crazed. Black blood trickled from his shattered nose.

“You are so right,” he said. “For that, not only will you burn, but so will everyone you have ever cared about.”

Blacksun began to glow darkly. His power radiated away from his body in waves. The walls of Project: Pegasus began to buckle.

“This isn’t good,” said Dr. Spectrum.

“Always the master of the obvious,” replied Power Princess.

The metal walls began to burn black as Blacksun cackled wildly.

“What now?” asked Skylark.

“Now we stop this madness,” said Arcanna, joining the fray at last.

She raised her hands and began to recite a spell.

“Ssenkrad eht nword ot thgil etihw erup!”

With that blinding white light filled the room. Blacksun screamed and fell to his knees. The blackness in his eyes faded and Wundarr blinked.

“Benjamin, we don’t have much time. Only the Cosmic Cube can contain him. I sensed there was one still within Project: Pegasus.”

“Mommy, we need the Cosmic Cube.”

Wundarr roared in pain. His eyes began to turn black again.

“Hurry. I can’t hold him off much longer.”

“Ebuc cimsoc em ot emoc,” Arcanna began to chant.

“Contain him! I’ll protect Arcanna,” shouted Skylark.

Dr. Spectrum and Power Princess attacked, driving Blacksun back. The black fire began to reappear at his fingertips. His body fairly crackled with energy not of this world. Wundarr’s long hair blew out into the air. A demented smile crossed his face.

“You will NOT imprison me again!”

Blacksun’s entire body burst into flames. The dark fire burned the air. Power Princess and Dr. Spectrum fell to their knees gasping for breath. Tears welled in Skylark’s eyes as she watched her friends fall.

“How are we doing Arcanna?” she asked.

“Just…a…few…more…moments.”

The black fire surrounded Skylark. Her wings burst into flames as she cried out in pain.

“Your time is up witch!” said Blacksun as he dropped Skylark, smoldering, to the ground.

“I don’t think so.”

Blacksun turned toward the voice. He found himself face-to-face with the Whizzer. The speedster was pointing a large gun in his direction.

“Your weapons are insignificant against a being of my power.”

“We’ll just see about that. Eat Nth Projector,” said the Whizzer as he fired.

The weapon discharged. A bolt of energy slammed into Blacksun’s chest. The monster screamed. The Whizzer held the trigger down, continuing the onslaught.

“It’s working,” thought the Whizzer.

Blacksun thrashed in agony as the Nth Projector continued to blast him. Then, to the surprise of them both, Blacksun’s energy form began to rise out of Wundarr’s body. The Whizzer kept the blast focused on the energy body, raising it into the air. As he did so, Wundarr fell to the floor.

“Thank you Stanley,” said Arcanna.

She stood next to the Whizzer, a crystal cube in her hand.

“I believe I can take it from here.”

Arcanna held the Cube aloft with her right hand. With her left she began to gesture.

“Dnammo ci Ebuceht otni erehsdn eyen ruoj. Ruoy egn Ever F otirips.”

With a scream as old as creation, Blacksun was sucked into the Cosmic Cube. The Cube glowed darkly in Arcanna’s hand.

“Is that going to hold him?” asked the Whizzer, powering down his Nth Projector.

“He is contained. I will make certain he stays that way.”

“Linda needs help,” said Whizzer. He picked up Skylark and disappeared in a flash.

“Wundarr!” shouted Benjamin Jones as he rushed to his savior’s aid.

Wundarr’s eyes fluttered and opened.

“Your mother and her friends stopped him. You should be proud.”

“What about you?”

“Blacksun burned me deeply. I don’t think I will make it.”

“I won’t let you die,” said Benjamin, effortlessly extending the Null Field to enclose Wundarr.

“That will only delay the inevitable Benjamin.”

“Not if I keep you wrapped up long enough to heal.”

“Even the Null Field is not that strong.”

Benjamin smiled the way only a child can smile.

“I have more than just the Null Field to work with.”

Benjamin gently touched Wundarr’s forehead. Then Wundarr saw Benjamin’s plan. All of it and none of it.

“Of course. You are a very bright boy.”

“Thank you. Now hold on.”

Benjamin put his hand on Wundarr’s head and spoke.

“Enos vek amtfe L evah icig, ameh th tiw.”

As Benjamin spoke the final syllable of his spell, Wundarr began to fade.

“Remember my name Benjamin. Remember my name.”

And then Wundarr was gone.

Arcanna crossed the floor and put her hand on her son’s shoulder.

“What happened to Wundarr?”

“I’m fixing him.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?”

“Yes mommy. Very sure.”

With that Benjamin Jones jumped into his mother’s arms and hugged her as hard as she could. Arcanna hugged her son back as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her lost son had returned to her. She swore a silent vow that nothing would ever come between them again.

NEXT ISSUE: Witness the fallout of the battle with the Nth Man and find out who is THE JUDAS GOAT!