Once he was an average high school kid. He excelled in sports, and his grades were average, but then a strange and wonderful occurrence happened. In a freak accident, his very atomic structure was merged with that of a scientist, and the two joined to become Firestorm, The Nuclear Man!

Those days of a shared existence are forever over, but now College student Ronnie Raymond carries on the tradition he started with Dr. Martin Stein , as he fights the good fight, and struggles with maintaining his grades as well as knocking the villain of the week back into the last one! He has the power of atomic manipulation, can fly through space and can fire nuclear blasts capable of leveling a city block! But he still can't get to class on time!

The Fury of Firestorm, the Nuclear Man! #11

Zero Hour

By Ralph Angelo

Firestorm flies over Manhattan, his mind in turmoil over the recent events in his life. But the one that burns the most is the loss of Jennie Graf. ' It's been two weeks, and the phone calls every night, are now down to twice a week. Not good. I was hoping she'd come back, but I guess her old man has a bigger hold on her that I thought. Can't say I blame her parents either. I'm almost on their page in this, sad to say. This whole scream killer thing scared the hell out of me. I thought he had killed her already. If I didn't find Hawk and Dove in Atlanta, when I went to look for Jennie, well chances are I'd have been attending her funeral a few weeks back.' *

* see our last two issues, plus Hawk and Dove #7

He lands at his school, on a rooftop. He phases through a door into a stairwell, and changes back to Ronnie Raymond, then continues his silent reverie. 'Still, I miss her. A lot. More then I thought, even. We hadn't even been together that long. Maybe if my head wasn't in the sand all the time, I might've seen her interest a lot earlier. Sometime life really sucks.'

Ronnie exits the stairwell and enters his floor in his dorm, walking down the hall, he knocks twice on his door, and hears his room mates inside both answer, "Come in" simultaneously.

"Hey guys." He pushes through the door smiling.

"Ron, what's up buddy? Marco Rollo grins as he slaps his room mate five. The overweight young man smiles broadly as greets his new found friend.

Brian McCormick waves from the couch where he's sprawled out, watching TV. "Hey Ron, how's things goin' today? You hear from Jennie at all?"

Ron smiles weakly, "Not since Monday. Man, I don't know what to do. I think I may fly down there on Friday night and visit her. But I don't know."

"What's not to know? You want her to get away?" Brian asks

"Get away from what? I'm not sure I ever had her. We just started dating, man." Ronnie answer as he walks into the kitchen area, opening the refrigerator door to grab a sandwich.

"Hey Ron, you better grab things while you can, man, otherwise you lose out." Marco advises.

"Don't I know it."

"What classes you have today?" Brian asks Ronnie, to change the subject.

"Well, I just left Sociology, and I have Bio again today."

"Oh, Jacobs class?" Marco asks.

"Yep, that's the one." Ron answers between bites of his bologna sandwich.

"She's weird." Brian states, as he punches the channel changer repeatedly on his remote.

"She's okay, just a little intense." Ron answer as he takes a mouthful of cherry coke.

"No Ron, she's a nut, man." Marco answers. "People have complained about her before, in other schools she's been in. In fact, this is her first time back teaching in five years."

"Huh?" Ron answers, turning back around to face his room mates. "What do you mean Marco? She wasn't teaching?"

"Nope. She just started again this semester. I did some searching on her name over the Internet. Turns out she used to be a beauty queen or something, but she got whacked out when her looks started to do the age thing."

"So why is she back teaching again?" Brian ads from the couch, as he continuously flips channels.

"No idea, man. She got back in though, and she seems to be good at what she does , I guess. And with a shortage of teachers and professors, I guess they figured why not? Not like she can go all whacko and hurt someone."

"No." Ron agrees as he throws his plate in the sink, "She's harmless, just intense."

"Hey Ron, " Brian looks up from the TV and for once actually looks interested in something other then the tube, "You going to try out of the baseball team? I know you used to be pretty much of a jock, , and there are spots. You ever pitch? "

"Yep, sure did in High school. I was decent too. I'll think about it, man." Ron answers. "Now gotta run, guess I gotta go see my crazy bio Professor." He smiles as he grabs the books he needs for her class. "Catch you clowns later."

"Later man." Marco and Brian both answer as they settle in on the couch once more.

Ronnie walks down the hallway and muses to himself "What classes do those losers take? I never see them going to class at all, just hanging out. Oh well, not my problem, I guess."

Ron crosses the mid town campus, and makes his way to his classroom, where he finds note taped to the door. "Class, please make your way to the bio lab in the basement of this building, thank you. Professor B. Jacobs."

"Great." He thinks, "now what?'

Ronnie makes his way down the surprisingly empty stairwell as he heads to the lab room "Where is everyone?"

Ronnie continues walking, and opens the lab door. The room is dark. "Hello? Anyone here?" He shouts into the darkness. Suddenly a light comes on in the center of the room, and at the lights center, hanging buy her wrists, her feet 6" above the ground is a bound and gagged Professor Jacobs.

"Professor!" Ronnie yells, as he sprints across the floor, towards her, when suddenly an arm stabs outwards, smashing Ronnie across the jaw form the darkness, knocking him painfully to the ground.

"Hello Firestorm. I see you made our little party. Welcome to the fun, my boy." The mystery man punctuates his last words by a kick to Ronnies side. A heavy, armored, kick .

"Unnggh." Ronnie groans. "He knows who I am? How? I've been careful."

"Well boy? What are you waiting for. Change to your alter ego. I know who you are. Come out and play, Firestorm."

Ronnies stares at the shadowed figure, his eyes piercing the darkness, and suddenly both glow with an atomic signature !

"Sometimes, Karbon, you get what you wish for!'

Shoom!

Firestorm explodes into reality! Smashing the high tech, armor suited villain backwards with a double fisted blast of nuclear fury, blasting him out of the basement on an angle and out the wall into the school yard.

"You all right Professor?" Firestorm asks, as he turns her bonds into a soothing gel, that runs down her wrists, cooling the painful rope burns.

"Y-yes Firestorm. What just happened? I had a light in my eyes, and suddenly you were there."

"Good." He thinks "she didn't see." Stay here, Professor. I have some garbage to take out." He flies upwards and away, and behind him, Professor Jacobs smiles.

Firestorm bursts out of the building, and is immediately attacked, as powerful energy beams wrap around him, and ensnare him, like coils of energy!

Shrraak!

"Aaagg!" Grunts the nuclear man, as he reflexively creates a 40 ton weight 50 feet above Karbon, that instantly crashes down upon the armored villain.

KROOM!

Firestorm flies free, as he disintegrates the weight, to find the crushed and destroyed robotic form of Karbon underneath.

"The suits destroyed, and it is a robot. What gives? That was to easy."

"You are correct, boy." A voice booms behind him, as he quickly turns to see ten Karbon robots floating in the air behind him.

"Oh boy, no fair." He quips as he flies upwards, avoiding the attacks of two of them, as suddenly he's once more enwrapped in the energy tentacles, this time from multiple sources.

"G-g-gotta g-get o-out o-of t-this." He growls painfully, a she blasts the nearest Karbon with a matter altering beam, seeking to turn it into water vapor!

T-KROW!

But as before *, the energy backlashes and slams Firestorm to the ground in pain!

THOOM!

*See issue #8.

"G-gotta get up! " Moans Firestorm painfully as he fights his way to his knees, more on reflex then anything else.

"No Firestorm, not this time." is the answer from a multitude of Karbons, who suddenly pound Firestorm to the ground, as all around the Nuclear man, the world turns black...

An indeterminable amount of time later... Firestorm awakens to find himself in a glass tube of some sort, as a man in a lab coat works feverishly before him, with his back to Firestorm.

"Okay" Thinks Firestorm, "time to get out of here."

The young hero touches the glass tube and seeks to disintegrate it, but the resulting backlash drives him to his knees, instantly!

Shraak!

The white lab coated man turns around, his salt and pepper goatee quivers with anticipation as his bald head furrows along his brow quizzically. His yellow lensed goggles stare at Firestorm. "Ah, I see you are awake, Firestorm. Good. I would not want you to be unaware of my labors."

"W-who are you?"

"My name is Dr Zero. I am a geneticist seeking the secrets of your wondrous powers."

"If you think I'm just going to help you out on this , you're more crazy then you look., and that's saying a lot."

"Ah yes, insults. I was aware you had a sharp tongue, as well as a quick wit. You are not stupid, as much as you may play the part in your 'real' identity as Ronnie Raymond ."

"I never realized I was 'playing a part'."

"Whatever. So dear boy, Shall I show you what I have discovered in the time you 've been here?"

"Time I've been here? How long have you had me in this thing?"

"Three days, Raymond. And in that time, I've gleaned your atomic manipulation abilities. Perhaps not as much as I would have liked before you awakened, but enough to begin my experiments."

"What experiments, you diseased maniac?"

"Better to show, then tell, I think. Bernadette, would you care to join us? Our guest has awakened from his induced sleep."

Firestorm hears footsteps walking down a staircase, as he turns in that direction, as a pair of womans legs slowly make their way down the steps. Finally the legs form into a torso, and Firestorm heart stops in his throat as the face is finally revealed!

"Professor Jacobs? YOU? Why? "

"Because I wanted this, Ronald." She runs her hands down her sides sensually, and then Ronnie realizes what is different about her.

"You're young! What'd he do to you? How'd he do it? Why are you involved in this?"

"Because I wanted to be young eternally , Firestorm. And now I am. Young and beautiful. And one other thing, dear. I've become powerful as well. Does this look familiar at all?" she asks as her body glows brightly in a soft blue light , before dimming and becoming a form out of Firestorms past. That of one of his deadliest foes, reborn yet again.

"Killer Frost? You became Killer Frost? What's the real Frostie going to think?"

"You misunderstand Ronald , this is just to remind you of who I resemble, and what my powers are, who I really am is..."

She stops talking and throws her arms in the air, as a shower of ice ripples around her body, transforming her clothing into a skin tight , leather like outfit, exposed down the front, with earrings simulating daggers, and a wild mane of frozen hair. "Killer Frost was yesterday, Ronald my dear, the future belongs to FROST BYTE! "

Next: Dr Zero, Frost Byte, The Karbons and whole lot more in our double sized , 12th issue!

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