Captain Atom (Volume 2) #12 is an issue of the series Captain Atom (Volume 2) with a cover date of February, 1988.
Synopsis for "Sweet Dreams Major Force"
Sometime following the apparent failure of Project Captain Atom and the "death" of Nathaniel Adam, General Eiling and Dr. Megala began a new project called the Major Force Project. They chose Clifford Zmeck, a former Supply Sergeant and irredeemable man convicted for rape and murder, to be the project's test subject. On the morning of April 1969, almost a year to the day after the initiation of the Captain Atom Project, the experiment was commenced in which Zmeck was given more coating of the alien metal to protect him before being subjected to a nuclear blast. Like Nathaniel, Zmeck was catapulted into the quantum field and shot him decades forward in time.
In the present day, Eiling and Megala finally awaited the arrival of Zmeck, who is then sedated with nerve gas. After Zmeck's body extracted, Megala and Martin Allard oversee in surgically installing artificial implants in Zmeck's body, including a bomb, to ensure that Zmeck wouldn't step out of line.
Meanwhile Nathaniel arrive in Project Majestic, an USAF Arctic installation, to meet Randy. However, he learns that Randy was dispatched to find a downed unmanned space probe of seemingly extraterrestrial origin. A device that was also discovered by Russian tracking stations and the Russians have sent three heavily armed tanks to recover it as well. Nathaniel transform into Captain Atom and travel to the location of the probe in the midst of a blizzard, where Randy's men are engaging in a stand off with the Russians. Without causing an international incident, Nathaniel discreetly break the ice under the tanks and disabling them. But the tank commander refuse to lose and calls for air support. But Nathaniel is able to intercept the jet's missiles and eventually destroying the aircraft as Randy and his men leave with the probe while being unaware that they were saved by the superhero.
After the probe is recovered, the eventual meeting between Nathaniel and Randy is lukewarm. Randy is already informed of his father's investigation into his court-martial and he is at least agrees to not pass judgement on Nathaniel until his investigation reveals conclusive proof of his innocence.
General Eiling prevents Allard from activating Zmeck's kill switch. He is already aware of Allard's past with Zmeck after he first volunteered for the project: as a child, Allard witnessed his mother Elaine viciously strangled to death by Zmeck. Since then Allard seeks revenge on his mother's killer. Eiling deliberately allowed Allard to be close to Zmeck in order to judge on how he will not kill Zmeck. He needed Zmeck as his own weapon, especially to use him against Captain Atom, and so he makes a proposition to Allard that he will have his vengeance when the time comes.
Appearing in "Sweet Dreams Major Force"
Featured Characters:
- Captain Atom (Flashback and main story)
Supporting Characters:
- Martin Allard (Flashback and main story)
- Randy Eiling (Flashback and main story)
- Heinrich Megala
Antagonists:
- Major Force (First appearance) (Flashback and main story)
- Wade Eiling
Other Characters:
- Elaine Allard (Single appearance; dies) (Flashback only)
Locations:
- Project Majestic
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- The story continues in Captain Atom Annual (Volume 2) #1.