Little soul... your mission is hopeless. 
- — Nekron
Captain Atom (Volume 2) #43 is an issue of the series Captain Atom (Volume 2) with a cover date of July, 1990.
Synopsis for "It's Always Something"
Nathaniel Adam must defeat Nekron, Lord of the Unliving, in order to return to Earth and preventing the "Ultimate Opponent" from claiming his soul. Nekron explains to Nate that he was responsible for arranging his death, having sent his late wife to haunt his dreams and the Black Racer to collect his spirit all because of his soul is intertwined with the Life Energy of the natural plane, or known as simply as the Quantum Field; Nekron sees Nate's quantum powers as his only opportunity to pull the Quantum Field into his realm and with it, every living being in the universe.
In the realm of the living, Nate's body comes back to life in front of Chester King, Anton Sarrok, and Silver Shield. But it is not Nate who inhabits his body, it is Henry Yarrow. Sarrok and Silver are quick to realize Yarrow's possession of Captain Atom's body. Yarrow then immediately wields Nate's quantum powers to flee into the skies.
Yarrow eventually reunites with The Ghost and explaining to how he was able to possess Captain Atom's body; when General Eiling fatally shot Yarrow, his soul was sucked into the Quantum Field that was opened by The Ghost. Yarrow's soul wandered until he found Captain Atom's silver cord — the source of his quantum-powered connection — and followed it to his body. The Ghost sees Yarrow's presence could alter his "master plan" in which he shows his compatriot of his abductions of the valuable members of the Atom Project and his intent to brainwash them and turn them against their friends and allies. Yarrow is left befuddled by The Ghost's elaborate plan and what he could gain from this. The Ghost simply answers that he want his own "personal Captain Atom."
Back in the astral plane, Nate uses his innate connection to the Quantum Field to gather enough power to stand up against Nekron. However, he only played into Nekron's hand due to summoning the living energies from the universe to the Land of the Dead. Nate quickly rethinks his strategy and instead dives into Nekron's body and absorb his energy and return it to the Quantum Field. This greatly weakens Nekron and allowing Nate to throw his shrunken form away. After defeating Nekron, Nate spend his final moments with Angela, who encourage him to take care of their children and find a new love for himself.
Meanwhile, Yarrow was among of many who were briefly affected by the life draining and he mistakenly believe it is Nate trying to reclaim his body. Believing he might not have enough time to remain on Earth, Yarrow is all the more determined to seek revenge on Eiling. He impulsively leave The Ghost and heads for the Pentagon. Yarrow crashes into Eiling's office and have the General at his mercy. But Eiling has his pistol loaded with X-Ionized bullets that will penetrate through his Dilustel skin; Yarrow is left unfazed by Eiling's threats. The stand off is interrupted by Silver Shield and Sarrok.
At this moment, Yarrow's spirit is confronted by Nate, who then takes back his body. Yarrow berates Nate from stealing the chance to kill Eiling, but Nate tells him that he doesn't hate anyone anymore including Eiling and Yarrow. Nate calms Yarrow down by reminding that he had a wife and a son who are still alive and that he could have used his second chance at life in seeing them again rather than revenge. Yarrow's spirit is left pacified and he moves on to the afterlife, wishing to see his daughter who died years ago.
Though Nate is returned to the living world, Eiling is left in disbelief of Yarrow possessing Nate's body and is still intend on shooting Nate. But Nate powers down and tells Eiling straight to his face of his last meeting with Angela and how she told him that she had genuinely loved Eiling, thus Nate respect her enough to believe Eiling has something good or decency inside of him. Eiling stands down. Nate and the others leave Eiling to his thoughts as the former tells Randy about his mother.
Appearing in "It's Always Something"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Henry Yarrow
- Martin Allard
- Babylon
- Jeff Goslin
- Randall Eiling
- Anton Sarrok
- Chester King
- Silver Shield
- Red Tornado
Locations:
Items:
- X-Ionizer(Mentioned only)
Vehicles: