He had stopped aging around age 40 and had seen all that time had to offer and now he wanted to conquer it. He watched Time Man and the time traveler arrive at an apartment building. He saw them disappear into a roof access door. He ran inside the building and tried to hear which apartment they went into. He heard talking and a door close but wasn’t sure which one was the one he wanted.
“Ellie, I hope you don’t mind,” Harold said as he closed the door. “I brought someone by for dinner.”
“What? You never do that,” Ellie said, coming out of Maggie’s bedroom. “What’s the occasion?”
“This is Caleb. He’s a...scientist. He came into the store today to ask for some parts.”
“Hello, Mrs. Banner. Pleasure to meet you. Your husband and I have a lot in common.”
“A scientist, huh?” Ellie smiled at him. “What kind of scientist?”
“I, uh, mainly work with timepieces. Always trying to perfect the watch. You know how it is,” Caleb tried to explain.
“Okay,” Ellie kept smiling at him. “I haven’t started dinner so it will be awhile.”
“Do you need any help Mrs. Banner?” Caleb offered.
“What? Why? Please, call me Ellie. Of course I don’t need any help. You boys run off and talk about science-y things. I’ll call you when it’s ready.”
“Here, we can sit and talk in my study,” Harold laughed and showed Caleb two chairs and a small table next to a window. “I do all my reading--books, newspapers, magazines--right here. It’s not much but it does its job. So, what brings you here?”
Quietly, Caleb went through how he created the gauntlet and how it worked. He explained how he had been trying to figure out a way to move through time and that it seemed he succeeded but he wasn’t sure what he did or if it would work to return him to his time. When dinner was ready, the three of them sat down at the table and they got halfway through when Adam smashed his way through the door.
Along with his halted age, Adam also had superhuman strength and quick reflexes. The wood of the door splintered onto the floor. Harold and Caleb quickly got up. The loud noise woke up Maggie in the other room and she began crying. Ellie wanted to tend to her daughter but couldn’t get past her husband and his guest and the man who just smashed through her front door.
“You,” Adam snarled. “You’re the time traveller. I must know how you do it.”
“I don’t think that’s information you need,” Caleb said and readied himself for a fight.
“We need to get him out of my apartment,” Harold said, pulling his sundial out of his pocket and putting it on. His gold and blue uniform and cape appeared, shocking Ellie.
“Harold…? Time Man?”
“I should’ve told you. We’ll talk about it later. I have to get this guy away from here.”
He reached toward Adam, who was still focused on Caleb. Time Man grabbed Adam’s arm and pulled him toward the window. They both smashed through the window, taking some of the wall with them, and fell to the ground, landing hard on the pavement of the street.
“I need to know how he can go through time,” Adam screamed and punched Time Man. “I need to know,” he emphasized.
“To be honest,” Caleb flew down and landed on the sidewalk. “I don’t even know how I did it. But I’m certainly not going to help you figure out time travel.”
“I have lived through millennia and will live through millennia more,” Adam said. “I will find out how to time travel sooner or later and right now, you are my best chance.”
Adam leapt toward Caleb. “If you figured out time travel, wouldn’t you know it by now? Realize that your life is different or get a visit from your future self? Something like that?” Adam’s fist grazed Caleb’s cheek as he dodged the attack.
But Adam’s reflexes were able to quickly turn him around and catch Caleb on his cheek, sending him to the ground. “Caleb!” Time Man exclaimed as Adam continued pummeling Caleb into the ground.
Time Man stopped time with his sundial and ran over to Adam and Caleb. He removed the watch from Caleb’s wrist, pocketed it, and restarted time. He shoved Adam away from Caleb and knelt down to him. “I guess going back in time was a bad idea,” Caleb groaned.
“It’ll be okay. We’ll get you help,” Time Man said.
Adam suddenly landed on Caleb’s chest. Loud cracks and crunches echoes through the street. Caleb’s eyes went wide then closed. “Now I just need to get rid of you, and all of time is mine,” Adam looked at Time Man.
