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April - May 1963 |
Our story opens with a stunner as a cigar-smoking businessman tells the Challs, "Yes, gentlemen! I, Wilfred Clayton, risked my life to save all of you! And now I demand the same in return - your lives!"  Clayton sent the Challs a message stating briefly, "You owe me your lives!" Now the man explains, "You - and everyone else - have always believed that fate intervened that stormy night to save all four of you from a plane crash! But actually it was *I* who did it!" Prof sputters, "That's impossible! We know exactly what happened that night we first met - and almost died together!" |
"Slowly, each Challenger recalls the events that led up to that fateful night..." Rocky remembers a wrestling match against a brute named Barton. The mob doped Rocky's water until he saw double. But the champ closed his eyes and spread his arms, and clobbered Barton. For winning the match and busting up a mob, Rocky gets to be on the TV show "Heroes"! Rocky tells reporters the only rewards he wants are - cash and glory. (See Rocky's Bio for full details.) Prof recalls how his cabin cruiser foolishly swamped a fishing smack - and stopped his hero, Sir Lawrence Revere, from retrieving a good-luck statue for local fisherman. Prof helps Sir Lawrence save the statue, but Revere ruins his lungs. Ironically, since Prof fished him out, he gets invited to "Heroes". Yet Prof has finally grown up. All he's been was a rich delinquent, but not after today. (See Prof's bio for full details.) |
Red recalls how he was engaged by a wealthy man to build a radio tower in South America. Yet a local boy begged Red to destroy it. The businessman wanted to broadcast propaganda and become dictator! Red shoos the kid outside - where's he shot by an assassin! Chasing the villain up the tower, the man backs into a power line and dies. Red was hailed as a hero for saving the country - but knows that dead kid is the real hero. (See Red's Bio for full details.) Ace recalls how, as a small private flying service, he agreed to deliver high explosives for prospectors to Alaska. But en route, the cargo got loose. Ace buzzed the prospectors to get clear and dumped the load - blowing open a rich vein of ore! He'll be one of the "Heroes" too. (See Ace's bio for full details.) |
Ace offered to fly the other three guests in his new jet, the Lucky Ace. So the future friends met on the runway. But Rocky got off on the wrong foot. Since this is the jet's maiden flight, Rocky slapped a wad of chewing gum on the name, "just like in them old war movies!" Ace carped, "Hey! That sign was freshly painted, Mr. Hero!"  Not much later, they were airborne and storm-tossed. Red asked, "How good are our chances, Fly Boy?" Ace warned, "Bad enough for me to try a crash landing! Here goes!" |
As the jet dropped, each man was alone with his own thoughts - and none were happy. Prof: "What an irony - to die just when I learned the true values in life!" Rocky: "Wrestling for the big dollar! What a waste of a lifetime!" Red:, "I climbed some mountains and built some gadgets! So what?" And Ace: "What an ace I turned out to be!" All four would really welcome a second chance at life. Not just to live, but to do something worthwhile!  |
Crash they did, but miraculously survived. Red noted, "Even my watch stopped!" Ace announced, "We're living on borrowed time, men! Well, are we going to waste our 'second lives' or put them to good use?"  |
Which brings us to the present. Ace tells Clayton, "You know the decision we made!" Clayton replies, "Yes. You devoted your lives to fighting the evils of the unknown." Yet unknown to the Challs, Clayton was there! He was a foreman on an oil rig and saw the plane crash. He donned an asbestos suit and risked his life. "After extinguishing the fire, I found four men unconscious inside! I ran for medical help, but when I returned you were gone!"  He kept - and displays now - the section of plane fuselage painted with "Lucky Ace!" Ace says, "That proves it, men! It wasn't fate that saved our lives - it was this man!" |
Clayton never traded on his help, but kept it a secret - until now. He's in desperate straits - and the only ones who can help are the Challengers. Rocky says, "If anyone deserves our help, it's you! What's up?" Recently Clayton bought an oil site in South America. While rock-blasting, the workers uncovered the golden statue of an Aztec god broken into pieces! Since the locals believe it was destroyed by another god, to touch it means death. No problem. The Challengers will assemble the statue! |
The Challs make plans, load supplies, and wing to South America with "the man who saved their lives". The statue stands in the excavation site with the missing arms lying nearby. "That's a menacing-looking idol, Mr. Clayton." Clayton, Prof, and Red start with the arm holding a sword. But as they approach, the arm rises into the air with a WHOOSH! Clayton goggles, "It does have some strange power!" No kidding. The blade poises in mid-air, ready to slice our heroes. Blast it with baby bombs? No, Prof argues, they promised to reassemble the statue. Head for the woods: Prof has an idea that might work. |
It better. The arm and sword lop a tree like a daisy.  Prof stands his ground as the sword flies at him. "Got to time this perfectly!" He dives - and the sword jams in the tree trunk! Quickly Red and Prof chain the arm to the jeep, drag it free, and hoist it with the crane. Clayton holds the guide rope, but it slips. The arm whacks the statue - and Prof notices machinery inside! "This is no Aztec statue -" "No," says Clayton, aiming a gun. "It's a giant robot! Sorry you had to discover it so soon... because you're now my prisoners!" |
Red and Prof are forced into a cave - but at least they get answers. Another prisoner is the mousey Dr Steuben, an inventor. He intended the work-robot to dig up and smelt ore directly with a thermal ray. But he needed lots of money, and went to Wilfred Clayton. The businessman convinced him to make the robot resemble an ancient god so no one would steal it. "Only later did I realize Clayton wanted it for his personal gain." Prof grouses, "What a twist! The man who saved our lives turns out to be a first-class rat!" Steuben did manage to "unfix" the arms and rig them to attack Clayton if he came near - so he needed the Challengers to outwit the pieces. Red and Prof are gagged. And Rocky and Ace will assemble the statue without knowing the danger! |
Ace and Rocky have learned some of the danger. Just approaching the shield arm sends it skipping after them - CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! The boys run for their jet. Rocky yelps, "That kookie thing thinks it's a flyswatter - and I don't want to be the bug!" Blasting off in the jet, they outfly the thing. They're safe. But they promised Clayton they'd finish the job. Ace's plan soon finds Rocky wearing headphones and leaning out the bomb bay. With "hair-trigger timing", Ace circles and Rocky drops the cargo - and snares the flying arm. "We'll have it 'sewed up' for good!" But the single arm can still fight. It swings upwards and whacks the jet wing, which catches fire. Ace pushes a button to release CO2 foam and extinguishes the blaze. He notes, "Strange coincidence! Clayton saved our lives with CO2 foam, and now we use it to finish a job for him!" |
Ace and Rocky drag the arm behind their jeep. Clayton says their pals went to town for supplies. Quickly the pair hoist the last arm - but it comes back to life and attacks the statue, battering and cracking it! Why? Because Ace finally saw through Clayton's scheme and reprogrammed the arm's guidance system to destroy the statue. Clayton counterstrikes by making the sword arm slice the shield. The strange fight escalates. One hand grabs another and the sword falls. Clayton warns to "Watch its eyes!" Sizzling bolts mark the thermal ray that melts the offending arm. Ace jockeys the controls to make severed hand crawl and seize the fallen sword - and pitch it right into the statue's electronic brain. Bullseye! |
As Clayton tries to flee in the jeep, the sword cleaves the hood in half. Ace notes, "The vibrations of the jeep shook the knife loose! That's the unkindest cut of all, Clayton!" So it ends. Ace explains how the plane's catching fire reminded him of Clayton's original story. What was wrong? Remember how Rocky slapped the chewing gum on the "Lucky Ace" letter, smearing it? The fragment that Clayton claimed to have kept DIDN'T have smeared letters! Rocky laughs. "So we'd never have known Clayton didn't save us except for a little wad of chewing gum? That's what stuck him!" |
Comment After all that fascinating leadup to the Challengers' origin, and how each wanted a second chance at life, any followup story would probably pale. And this one does. The whole idea that the guys wouldn't recognize robots parts flying on jets - thinking it was magic? - is ludicrous. Still, their back stories are worth the price of admission ten times over. Learn more about the secret behind the crash. See the map of the flight plan and crash. |
