One year ago…
The strange wrist sundial had been brought in nearly a decade ago by someone who didn’t leave a name. It was repaired and left on the shelf since then unclaimed and untouched.
Harold Banner found the small sundial fascinating. It looked ancient while also looking very modern. The previous owner of the Fix-It Shop, Franz Reznicek, gave the sundial to Harold. He thought it was nice but impractical as an actual way to tell time. After work, before he went home, he slipped on the sundial and his street clothes were replaced with a skintight blue suit with a yellow cape and hood.
Harold discovered that the sundial gave him super strength flight, and invulnerability. Turning the dial slowed down and stopped time. Harold became a protector of his beaten down neighborhood in Golden City. He became Time Man and immediately began rubbing Councilman Lucius Goebel the wrong way.
Lucius felt like he should be the hero of Ward 9 even though everything he did was to further his own career and line his own pockets at the expense of the poverty-stricken residents. Lucius was currently serving ten years in prison for conspiracy to assassinate the mayor.
Despite the hard and dangerous work, Harold enjoyed being Time Man and helping out his neighbors and being a beacon of hope for people who desperately needed one.
Time Man lifted the giant chunk of concrete over his head.and tossed it a few feet away. Trapped under the rubble was a young girl and her younger brother. The building had been knocked down by a man named Sledge, a hulk of a person with a sledgehammer instead of a right hand. Everyone had been accounted for except for these two.
“I told Conner you’d save us, Time Man,” the girl coughed.
Time Man picked up the girl who was holding her brother. A paramedic quickly took them and began checking on them. Time Man spoke with them for a minute before flying off. Quickly, Time Man realized that a metal orb was following him.
Strange, he thought as he noticed the orb followed his every move. He moved toward it and it backed away. Is it a camera? He noticed a lens on the front shimmering in the sun. He stopped time, crushed the orb between his hands and restarted time.
“Nice try,” he said and flew off.
Conrad grunted and huffed. “Luckily we have a plan B,” he said. “We know who he is so he won’t be able to hide from us.”
When Time Man arrived back home, his wife Margaret was sitting down in the living room with Jessica Milch, a young woman they had met when Harold, worried for his family due to his powers, moved his family to a small town in Iowa.
“Jessica? What a surprise,” Time Man said as he took off the sundial and returned to his civilian clothes. Harold was surprised to see Jessica. He didn’t think she was the type to visit a big city, preferring small town life to big city stresses.
“I thought I’d visit. I miss you guys living next door,” Jessica said.
Harold cocked his head when he noticed that Jessica had a black eye and she looked much thinner. “Are you okay? What happened to your eye?”
“Accident back home,” he gingerly touched the massive bruise on her eye.
Harold noticed the worn and irritated skin around her wrists. “What’s wrong? What happened?” he pointed at her, looking at her wrists.
Jessica rubbed her wrists. “Someone took me. They wanted to know about you. They wanted to know about Time Man. I tried to hold back on giving them anything but…” she sobbed and covered her face. “They tortured me and starved me and beat me and…”
“It’s okay,” Ellie went over to hug Jessica. “You’re safe now. We’ll protect you. Do you know who took you?”
Jessica shook her head.
“I have an idea,” Harold growled and turned to leave.
When Time Man got through security and to the visiting room, Lucius Goebel was sitting patiently waiting for him.
"Lucius!” Time Man bellowed. Lucius calmly pointed to the phone on the wall. Time Man angrily picked it up. “What’s the meaning of this?”
“You came here,” Lucius said. “Oh, you mean the kidnapping and such. We had to learn more about you, Harold, so after we ‘triangulated’ that Time Man appeared in both Golden City and Duquesne, Iowa, we researched who was in both of those places, found where you and your family lived and figured Ms. Milch might know more about you, especially as Time Man,” Lucius explained.
“Kidnapping and torture. Your sentence just gets longer,” Time Man said.
“Oh, please, none of that can be traced to me and I’ve been here so I couldn’t have kidnapped and tortured that poor young woman. Don’t worry, I will leave her alone and you and your family. I just wanted to know more and now I do,” Lucius smiled.
Time Man stared at Lucius for a few seconds.
“Please, visit again, Harold,” Lucius kept his smile and hung up the phone. He stood up, turned and walked away back to the cells with a guard following closely.
As he flew home, Time Man happened to hear the faint screams of a woman down below. He flew down and found a man holding down a young woman and attempting to wrestle her pants off. As she struggled, he hit or slapped her. Time Man landed and pulled the man off of her. He lifted the man over his head. “I am not in the mood for this,” Time Man said and threw the man, kicking and screaming, into a brick wall. Some of the bricks and cement cracked as the man landed hard on the ground. “Are you okay?” Time Man asked the lady.
“I’m fine. Going to be a little bruised.”
“Call 911 and tell them what happened. I don’t think he’ll try to hurt anyone again,” and Time Man was back in the air.
