DOOM!
DOOM!
DOOM!
DOOM!
DOOM!
Employees arriving at the museum heard the pounding and it got louder as they went to their workstations on the ground floor. Dr. Schnebly followed the sound to his office and saw the giant mummy pounding on the door to the research lab. Fist-sized bulges had started to show up on the door.
“What do we do?” another museum employee asked Dr. Schnebly.
“For the time being, hope that door holds,” Dr. Schnebly said. “Call the police and tell them what’s happening. And possibly the military.”
Eleanor woke up and saw Harold sitting in a chair holding Maggie and staring out the window. “Harold? Is everything all right?” she got out of bed and walked over to him.
“I’m thinking about Time Man. I know I’ve been back and forth on whether or not I should still be Time Man. I don’t think I’m making a difference at all. If anything, it seems like there are more bad guys out there,” Harold explained.
“Maybe it seems that way because you are seeing them more. You’re on the front lines seeing this. Sometimes they actually come after you. I think there is the same amount of crime in the world, you’re just seeing it all differently now,” Eleanor explained. “You’ve taken on a huge responsibility that no one asked you to do. If you want to quit, then quit.”
But knowing what I know makes it very hard to do that. I could always just put the sundial back on the shelf of the fix-it shop but I wouldn’t be able to forget it. I’d always want to grab it and help someone.”
“I think you already know the answer on whether or not you still want to be Time Man,” Eleanor said.
Harold looked up at Eleanor and smiled. “I should get downstairs to work,” he said. He and Eleanor kissed and she took Maggie from him.
Harold went downstairs and saw Martin sitting on the sill of the window, waiting for the fix-it shop to open. Harold smiled and unlocked the door. “Sorry I’m late, Martin,” Harold welcomed enthusiastically. “Good morning, how are you?”
“I’m good, Mr. Banner. You seem in a chipper mood.”
As Harold closed the door, tires squealed nearby. A car roared by, nearly hitting somebody. A couple of shots rang out from inside. “I have to go stop them,” Harold said, reaching for the sundial on his wrist. “Martin, I’m going to show you something. Can you keep a secret?”
“Sure can,” Martin replied. Harold activated the sundial and turned into Time Man. Martin’s eyes grew big and his jaw dropped. “You’re…?”
Harold smiled and nodded.
“How?”
Time Man took off toward the car. “We’ll talk when I get back.” Time Man flew after the car. The car was speeding and driving up onto the sidewalk, nearly hitting people, still shooting at random out of the window. Time Man caught up, grabbed the car and lifted it over his head. He brought it down, smashing it several times against a fire hydrant. “There. Now you’re all ready for the police.”
Time Man flew up and disappeared. Harold returned to the Fix-It Shop. “Did you get them?” Martin asked.
“Yep. About four blocks away,” Harold thumbed,.
“So you’re just Time Man?”
“Come into the workshop and I’ll tell you all about it.”
The mummy was free. It had laid waste to the museum, the employees, and anyone else who got near. The plan was to evacuate and keep everyone away. It was the only plan that was feasible. The mummy was tearing up a path through a good section of Golden City. It had gotten to the Golden Plaza when Harold got word of the destruction.
He turned into Time Man and rushed to the Golden Plaza where the monster had destroyed several buildings and killed numerous people. Time Man flew down and immediately dove into the mummy. For a couple of minutes, Time Man had the upper hand, striking the mummy repeatedly, keeping it off-balance and away from the people.
But the mummy regained its composure and began giving Time Man a taste of his own medicine. Dazed by the hits, the mummy grabbed Time Man and threw him into McLaren Tower and then jumped after him.
The mummy tossed Time Man around the building. Time Man’s uniform became tattered. The mummy held him up by the neck and raised his other fist for a crushing blow. Time Man attempted to reach for his sundial but the mummy, using quick reflexes, grabbed Time Man’s wrist and squeezed, crushing his wrist and destroying the sundial.
Time Man screamed in pain as he changed back into his civilian clothes. Harold began to panic and struggle to get out of the chokehold the mummy had him in. Harold started to pass out when the mummy’s grip loosened. Someone else had slammed full force into the mummy causing Harold to be let go.
Harold regained his vision and saw a figure in a blue suit and red cape. “Supercat?” he barely remembered the name of the so-called hero that was supposedly under hypnosis when he leveled a neighborhood in New York City. Seeing the six foot cat was an odd sight but short-lived as they fell through the floor.
“Come on. Get up,” someone said, pulling Harold to his feet.
Harold made it outside and to safety. He watched as a paramedic bandaged his wrist, Supercat and the mummy battle through the windows of the nearly ruined building. From the crowd, Harold heard a couple people ask about what happened to Time Man. He couldn’t tell them that the sundial had been destroyed and Time Man was no more.
A corner of the Tower collapsed and all noise from the fighting stopped. No one came out of the rubble. People began moving toward where the fight had stopped. Several minutes later, Supercat and the mummy barrelled their way out of the rubble. People ran away in terror for both the mummy and Supercat. Supercat was trying to keep the mummy--who was less like a mummy now that its wrappings had been torn off and more like a bulky gray husk.
Hitting him and having buildings fall on him aren’t working, Supercat thought. Maybe this will do something. Heat vision shot out of Supercat’s eyes and hit the mummy with full force. The mummy screamed and began to smoke.
“It’s working,” Supercat said. The heat vision ate away at the mummy until only ash remained. Supercat headed down to the police. As he approached, a crowd gathered. The police kept their weapons drawn. He got closer and someone threw a bottle at him. It shattered and the crowd grew unruly. They booed and threw more things at Supercat.
Supercat lowered his head and then flew off away from the city. Harold saw how everyone treated Supercat and hung his head as well, turned and began walking back to the Fix-It Shop.
When Harold got back to the shop, Martin was still there. “What happened?”
“Giant mummy. Another superhero--a cat in a blue suit--stopped it. The mummy destroyed the sundial. Time Man is essentially dead.”
“Can’t you fix the sundial?”
“Maybe but I think this is a sign. Maybe Time Man will be back. Maybe not,” Harold smiled and put the sundial back on the shelf where he originally found it.
Supercat inspired by characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
