Plan a strategy

Jones quizzed Palmer on a means to stop the Synthetic Men. Palmer explained that they were virtually invulnerable, needing only food to eat and the nitrogen in the air to breathe. Jones told Palmer to leave the rest to him, and escorted the scientist to safety.

John Jones watched the building from afar with his Martian Vision, invisibly sealing off exits as the Synthetic Men sealed their victory over the Lizard-Men. Then, at impossible speeds, Jones raced through the Heywood plant, collecting the unconscious bodies of the fallen reptilian aliens, and depositing them outside. Next, insuring the building was sealed up airtight, Jones began to inhale. Mighty Martian lungpower soon drained all the atmosphere out of the complex, and despite a ran of blows from several suffocating Synthetic Men, their threat was quickly extinguished.

Securing the collapsed Synthetic Men in vacuum tanks and binding up the Lizard-Men, Jones took the opportunity to explore the Heywood plant. There, he discovered that along with the cache of neoplasm used to create the synthetics, Heywood had also inherited a means of contacting Captain Comet, now long departed from his home planet. However, it was a Venusian interstellar broadcasting array, which could only transmit in their native language.

Try to contact Captain Comet with the Venusian device?
Leave well enough alone?

Fly to Detroit to defend the plant

With his inhuman speed, John Jones flew from Middleton to Detroit, where he landed a few blocks from the Heywood Defense Industries plant. Already, the disguised Lizard-Men had overtaken the facility. Using his incredible Martian Vision, Jones spied one conscious human being within the complex, physicist Ray Palmer. An unstoppable force, Jones barreled his way toward Palmer, and learned from the shaken scientist that a troop of invulnerable Synthetic Men within threatened a rampage all their own. These green-skinned artificial humans had already attempted to conquer the Earth back in 1952, and would have succeeded if not for the planet's sole superhuman defender of that day, Captain Comet. Now Jones had two menaces to juggle.

Attack the Lizard-Men?
Attack the Synthetic Men?
Plan a strategy?

Attack the Lizard-Men?

John Jones decided that swift action must be taken, and raced into the Heywood plant. Left and right were Lizard-Men and synthetic humans, each posing a deadly threat. No longer possessed of the quality of weaponry they once wielded, the Lizard-Men still had an easy enough time culling flame-throwing contraptions out of the laboratories with the compound. Meanwhile, the Synthetic Men were impervious to injury, and were super humanly strong. An explosion here, a powerful blow there, and John Jones found himself crumbling before his combined opposition. The Lizard-Men could not control the synthetics, and would have quite a fight on their hands. The physicist Ray Palmer knew the inner working of the Synthetic Men, and could perhaps aid in their destruction. John Jones would never know how it turned out, as the life of the last living Martian was snuffed out like a candle...

Unhappy with your ending? Then start over!

Attack the Synthetic Men?

John Jones decided that swift action must be taken, and raced into the Heywood plant. Left and right were Lizard-Men and synthetic humans, each posing a deadly threat. No longer possessed of the quality of weaponry they once wielded, the Lizard-Men still had an easy enough time culling flame-throwing contraptions out of the laboratories with the compound. Meanwhile, the Synthetic Men were impervious to injury, and were super humanly strong. An explosion here, a powerful blow there, and John Jones found himself crumbling before his combined opposition. The Lizard-Men could not control the synthetics, and would have quite a fight on their hands. The physicist Ray Palmer knew the inner working of the Synthetic Men, and could perhaps aid in their destruction. John Jones would never know how it turned out, as the life of the last living Martian was snuffed out like a candle...

Unhappy with your ending? Then start over!

The Answer

Palmer's head was still swimming from the blow he'd received, and there was no escape for him. Captured and failing to see any other alternative, Ray Palmer eventually collected himself and wrote detailed instructions for the authorities.  They learned how to release and, as best as Palmer was been able to determine, control the synthetic troopers. He was then led to a squad car, where he was met by a plainclothes detective named John Jones. Jones argued with the other officers about who would be taking Palmer in for further questioning, until Jones grabbed Palmer by the shoulder, and literally blew the other policemen away with super-human breath. Jones ordered Palmer into the driver's seat of the squad car, telling him to drive as far from the scene as he could.

Palmer made it all the was back to Ivy Town before turning himself in to local police. Although he was cleared of any wrongdoing through his association with Heywood Defense Industries, Heywood himself pressed for Palmer's prosecution for revealing company and by extension state secrets. Ray Palmer served several years in federal penitentiary, and afterward, was too thoroughly disgraced to ever work in his field again. Worse, for the rest of his life, Ray never learned who John Jones was, or why any of the events that ruined his life had occurred.

Not happy with your ending? Why don't you start again?

The Answer

Ray Palmer correctly solved the equation, and combining the activating blend, animated the Synthetic Men. At about the same time, the authorities burst into the lab, and a struggle ensued. A synthetic trooper hurled Ray across the room and into another wall. Dazed, Palmer realized he was really tired of his head being abused, and that the synthetic men were rampaging out of control. In no time, the lab and exterior hallways were trashed by the synthetic men, and to add to Palmer's disbelief, the police began to shapeshift into anthropomorphic reptiles. Ray was relieved he hadn't set the synthetics against human officers, but now had to find a way to stop both.

Suddenly a plainclothes, still human-looking police detective bounded down a hallway right toward Ray. Palmer tried to hide, but it was as though the detective could see through walls, and Ray was caught. The officer revealed himself to be John Jones, investigating a case originating in his home of Middleton, Colorado. Jones quizzed Palmer on a means to stop the synthetic men. Palmer explained that they were virtually invulnerable, needing only food to eat and the nitrogen in the air to breathe. Jones told Palmer to leave the rest to him, and escorted the scientist out of the building.

While Palmer waited at a safe distance from the building, the whole area fell silent. Eventually, the real Detroit Police Department arrived, to find the Lizard-Men in bondage and the Synthetic Men suffocated to death. Having had enough adventure for the time being, Palmer quit Heywood Defense Industries, and returned to academia as an Ivy Town university professor.

The End

• The Atom in "Decisions, Decisions!"
• Commander Steel in "Assault of the Lizard-Men"
• Martian Manhunter in "Last Stand of the Lizard-Men"

 

Release The Synthetic Men!

Ray Palmer determined that he had no choice but to release the synthetic men.With no time to lose, Palmer bolted from the room and raced for the area of the compound where the synthetics were stored. Palmer heard the pounding of feet from behind as he raced into the lab and sealed the door. While thudding came from without, Palmer began working on the equation needed to animate the synthetics. Tense minutes passed, as the police managed to drive a wedge through the lab door. Palmer had just one equation left to solve before he could turn the tables on his pursuers. Can you help him?

9x⁴ + 26x²y² + 25y⁴ =

A) 35x⁶ + 25y⁶
B) (3x² + 2xy + 5y² )(3x²  -2xy + 5y² )
C) (3x² + 5y² + 2xy) (3x² + 5y²  -2x)
D) (3x² + 5y²) - 4x²y²

Confess Everything

Palmer's head was still swimming from the blow he'd received, and there was no escape for him. Captured and failing to see any other alternative, Ray Palmer eventually collected himself and wrote detailed instructions for the authorities.  They learned how to release and, as best as Palmer was been able to determine, control the synthetic troopers. He was then led to a squad car, where he was met by a plainclothes detective named John Jones. Jones argued with the other officers about who would be taking Palmer in for further questioning, until Jones grabbed Palmer by the shoulder, and literally blew the other policemen away with super-human breath. Jones ordered Palmer into the driver's seat of the squad car, telling him to drive as far from the scene as he could.

Palmer made it all the was back to Ivy Town before turning himself in to local police. Although he was cleared of any wrongdoing through his association with Heywood Defense Industries, Heywood himself pressed for Palmer's prosecution for revealing company and by extension state secrets. Ray Palmer served several years in federal penitentiary, and afterward, was too thoroughly disgraced to ever work in his field again. Worse, for the rest of his life, Ray never learned who John Jones was, or why any of the events that ruined his life had occurred.

Not happy with your ending? Why don't you start again?

Surrender To Authorities

Ray Palmer wasn't about to commit an actual crime rather than avoid addressing phony charges. Ray met with a group of Feds in the lobby, who immediately began to interrogate him about the synthetic troops and Heywood's other developments. While Palmer wished to reveal what he could to the authorities, he was contractually bound to confidentiality on areas he was being questioned in. Palmer wondered how policemen knew so much about the science behind the synthetic troops, and as he began to ask his own questions, the feds began roughing him up. Palmer had not yet been handcuffed, and tried to defend himself, only to have the butt of a gun smash into his chin and leave him slumped against a wall. Ray realized that regardless of whether these men were really the authorities or not, they meant to extract information out of him by any means they deemed necessary. Once again, Ray had to decide, would he reveal all, or attempt escape?

Confess everything to the authorities?
Make his escape?

Crisis On Earth-Blog: The DC Challenge

You fail at life! Buddy, I've been there myself enough times, so don't let it get you down. Do what I do-- Dust yourself off and try again! High five!

The Anti-DiDio League
The Continuity Blog
The Aquaman Shrine
The Atom: Tiny Titan
Being Carter Hall
Comics Make Me Happy
Crimson Lightning
Dispatches from the Arrow Cave
El Jacone's Comic Book Bunker
Firestorm Fan
Girls Gone Geek
I Am The Phantom Stranger
The Idol-Head of Diabolu
Justice League Detroit
...nurgh...
Once Upon a Geek
Pretty, Fizzy Paradise
random picture day
Reilly2040's Blog
Supergirl Comic Box Commentary
Toyriffic
when is evil cool?