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TOMBSTONE, ARIZONA

Spaceman's rocketpack lowered him and 3-D Man slowly to the ground as the Silver Bullet sped off. Once they touched down, Spaceman deactivated the pack and the smoky exhaust ceased to flow.

"That's some suit you have there," 3-D Man commented eagerly. "Is that a standard issue astronaut suit on your world? Have you reached the moon yet?" As a former Air Force test pilot, Spaceman fascinated the Chuck Chandler behind the 3-D Man's mask.

"No we haven't reached the moon, yet," Spaceman replied. "And this spacesuit isn't even from Earth. I was a Arizona State Policeman, and I found it at a crash site in the desert. I thought it was one of those secret vehicles they say come out of Area 51. But as I got closer, I could tell that it was an actual rocketship. I found a survivor in the wreckage. He was wearing the suit. The pilot was human-like alien named Ad'm. Strange fellow, actually. He mentally told me he was an explorer from the planet Nnar, and his ship was an experimental theta-ray powered craft. Then he died. I took the suit, and being somewhat of a tinkerer, I figured out how to make it work for me."

"Interesting," 3-D Man responded. "Aliens were involved in me becoming the 3-D Man as well."

Spaceman pulled out the chronocrystal from one of the compartments on his suit. He turned around a few times and watched how the crystal reacted. "Looks like we need to head west from here." He looked at the geographic display that was projected on the inside of his helmet. "If your geography is the same as mine, it's in the direction of Tombstone."

"Tombstone?" 3-D Man said. "That was the site of a lot of showdowns. The Two-Gun Kid, Kid Colt, Ghost Rider. They all rode in Tombstone."

"Can't say I know if we had cowboys named that on my world," Spaceman said in reply. "Grab hold and I'll fly us there."

"No thanks." 3-D Man got down in a runner's starting stance. "I'll race you there." Seeing Spaceman nod, he called out. "Ready, set, go!"

As they raced towards Tombstone, 3-D Man continued the conversation. "You guys mentioned some of the superteams from your world - the Golden Agency and the Seven Sentinels of Valor. Can you tell me about them?" 3-D Man was genuinely interested. Both he and Hal had been big fans of the heroes of the previous decade. Now there was literally another whole world of heroes to learn about.

"I don't know if I want to talk about the Golden Agency," Spaceman said slowly as his rocketpack carried him quickly over the arid ground. "The Sentinels - The Knight, All-American Boy, Old Glory, Horseman, Scarlet Soldier, Green Golfer, Caddy - they disappeared at the end of the war fighting the Clockwork Man. Tim says that the Clockwork Man was another agent of the Scarlet Centurion."

"Who's this Scarlet Centurion?" 3-D Man inquired.

"We've never fought him directly, just his agent Comrade Future. Tim says the Centurion is a tyrant who lives in the 40th century and he wants to conquer various eras of our world."

At the edge of town, the two heroes came to a halt. The race had been a dead heat. Spaceman took another look at the chronocrystal. "Comrade Future's gotta be around here somewhere."

3-D Man's triple-powered eyesight scanned the deserted streets. He got sight of a spark of energy coming around the corner a few blocks down. "There's something down there."

"Got it." Spaceman held the crystal in that direction. It pulsed even stronger. "Let's do it."

3-D Man and Spaceman walked cautiously down the street. Thoughts of cowboy showdowns raced through both of their heads. As they rounded the corner, they saw Comrade Future standing in the middle of Main Street. Though pinkish energy was flowing all around him, he managed to notice the approaching heroes.

"Spaceman and X-Mas Man from the looks of it," Future cried. "How nice of you to follow me to this arid place."

"Give it up, Future," Spaceman projected. "We're not going to let you power up so you can jump into the timestream again. We're taking you home."

"Not if I can help it," Future replied. "If I can gather enough energy, I can jump back into the timestream and disable that cursed Knight Temporal's Time Elevator and strand you in this timeline."

"So that's your game." Spaceman tensed up beneath his suit. He did not relish the thought of being trapped in another dimension.

Comrade Future pointed at Spaceman and 3-D Man. "To ensure you don't interfere in this delicate process, here's a pair of temporal shades to keep you busy."

"Temporal shades?" 3-D Man thought. Was he going to create doppelgangers of the great Western heroes who fought here? Could he measure up to the greats like Ringo Kid, Gunhawk, or the Texas Kid even with his superpowers.

Two bursts of energy flew from Comrade Future towards Spaceman and 3-D Man. The energy blobs shifted into the form of the red-and-white armored Iron Man and the scantily clad Moondragon.

{Moondragon was in the Old West as per Avengers #142; Iron Man in West Coast Avengers #18}

Iron Man fired his repulsor rays which made Spaceman and 3-D Man scatter. The Armored Avenger then closed on Spaceman, while Moondragon took on 3-D Man.

Spaceman's systems were already scanning Iron Man's armor. He was amazed by the power levels that his scans were indicating. "He has to be from some point well into this world's future," he concluded. He opened up a panel on his suit and deployed a laser torch. "Good thing my armor's not too shabby either." He fired the laser torch. The razor-thin beam started drilling a hole through Iron Man's armor before Shellhead stepped out of the way.

Moondragon was stalking 3-D Man, her body tensed and crouched like the master martial artist that she was. 3-D Man stood there with his dukes up.

"Give it a break, sister," 3-D Man boasted. "I've probably got more than three times your strength."

Moondragon moved confidently towards 3-D Man. "The Priests of Pama did not teach me solely about physical strength, they taught me about skill." She ducked under 3-D Man's swing and delivered a stinging blow to his mid-section.

"Oof!" 3-D Man bellowed. "Lucky shot, baldy!" He took a few deep breaths and a few steps back.

"Let's see how maneuverable you are." Iron Man took to the air, and Spaceman joined him. The Armored Avenger could not zero in on Spaceman with his repulsor rays. Something about the Silver Star's armor was affecting his targeting computers. He decided to go with a broad-beam attack. He pointed at Spaceman and generated an intense infra-red flux. The heat waves could not help but strike against Spaceman's suit.

"No good," Spaceman called out. "This suit was made for the rigors of space. You're going to have to get a lot hotter than the sun before I start sweating." In response, Iron Man increased the intensity, but it was still insufficient.

Spaceman was continuing to scan Iron Man's armor. The scans indicated that Iron Man's armor was absorbing solar energy. A plan hatched in his head. "Speaking of the sun, let's see how you do without it." He reached into an exterior compartment and drew out a small black sphere. He tossed it at Iron Man and it exploded around him. It formed a solid black sphere around the Avenger.

"I call it a 'black hole bomb'," Spaceman announced. "It sucks up solar energy, and it has increased gravity inside of it." He closed in on the captive Iron Man. "It may not be strong enough to hold you, but you're going to waste a lot of power trying to get out, and you won't be recharging while you're doing it."

3-D Man was fighting very ineffectually against Moondragon. The Titanian Eternal-trained warrior-maiden was too skilled for 3-D Man's undisciplined style. His triple-speed almost made up for his lack of form and precision, but Moondragon was able to overcome it.

He was beginning to tire. "This is getting me nowhere fast, and she keeps tagging me with her karate chops," he thought. "I gotta put her down." He decided to do something unexpected. He had not landed a punch, so she had no idea how strong he was. He figured he could surprise her.

He ran at her like he was intending to bowl her over. Moondragon was prepared to throw him over her shoulder, but at the last minute, he hurdled over her with his triple-strength. The move surprised her for only an instant, but it was long enough. 3-D Man lashed out with a crushing blow to the back of Moondragon's bare neck, and she crumpled to the ground.

Meanwhile, Iron Man had finally broken out of the 'black hole bomb', but it had cost him nearly every erg of power in his batteries. As the sphere shattered, Spaceman smacked Iron Man with a right cross and the Armored Avenger fell.

However, it was too late. Comrade Future was already gone.

"Nuts!" 3-D Man shrugged. "He got away!"

"But we know where he's going," Spaceman countered. "And that's where we're going, too." He activated the Flashback Band which he had incorporated into the suit. Then he grabbed a hold of 3-D Man as well.

"Wait, what're we …" 3-D Man disappeared with Spacemen before he could finish.