PROJECT:
METALMAN
The
Future. Crystal City. A one time Atlantis that lies on the verge
of ruin, in a world devoid of natural resources, quickly running out
of time as civilized society has begun to turn on itself. But Aaron
Schell, mayor of Crystal City, presents a glimmer of hope to the
populace when he introduces Dr. D.C. Brooks, a molecular scientist
who has tapped the purest form of light energy, which he calls
MAGNITO-LIGHT, and proposes to power the city with this
self-sustaining energy force, guiding the city into a new era of
prosperity, and hopefully, peace.
But, in
the hands of Arkane, Dr. Brooks’ former business partner, this light
energy can and has been manipulated, and is being utilized to
corrupt the brains of Crystal City’s unsuspecting youth through a
popular video game called City Destroyer. Video game headgear
intercepts the normal flow of brain waves, triggering the release of
a chemical that catalyzes aggressive behavior, which Arkane exploits
as Master of the Game.
Under
Arkane’s command, players are instructed to destroy the city.
Virtually brainwashed, the players operate as if they are playing a
game, but the consequences and death toll are real, and Crystal City
falls in one terrible night. The game players are then rounded up
and incarcerated in a prison camp which is surrounded by an
impenetrable liquid acid jell wall. The future is bleak.
But the
fall of the city has inspired a revolution, and the revolutionaries’
aim is to destroy the wall, release the captives from physical and
mental imprisonment, and restore the city to all its former and
future glory.
Leading
the underground revolt is Adrian Schell, son of Crystal City’s
Mayor, and his friends Liza and Childs Brooks, children of Dr. D.C.
Brooks, the Magnito-light’s creator. Spared from the grasp of
Arkane, they organize the resistance’s efforts to overthrow him.
The threesome sets out to infiltrate the prison camp, and in the
process discover the secret to releasing Arkane’s mind-control over
the ‘game’ players and the key to destroying the wall: they must
reprogram the frequency of the Magnito-Light.
Much as he
betrayed Brooks, Arkane is double-crossed by his own partner in
crime, Warden Citron. As the resistance surges, Citron releases his
own secret weapon: PROJECT: METALMAN. METALMAN is an indestructible
fighting machine powered by the darker side of Magnito-Light,
science’s latest horrific miracle; a fleshlike vapor held together
by spiked chrome plates that glows iridescent green as the Magnito-light
feeds on a human that serves as its foundation. METALMAN is stored
inside an aerosol-like spray container which, essentially, releases
a warrior from a can, and can retract that warrior into its can like
a genie back to it’s bottle. The resistance is soon at the mercy of
METALMAN. Citron’s ultimate goal: to create an army of Greenmen
using the captured prisoners as guinea pigs for the weapon.
Once
inside the city, the three revolutionaries set out to free their
imprisoned comrades. Adrian is betrayed by his father, the Mayor,
and is captured by Citron and injected with the dark Magnito-Light,
which transforms him into a METALMAN. Liza, however, is able to
steal some of the pure Magnito-light source, which serves as an
antidote to the METALMAN serum. Through his tour as METALMAN,
Adrian realizes that only AS the METALMAN can he destroy the forces
that have created it. He breaks the wall, changing the frequency,
allowing pure Magnito-light to flow once again, to return to its
conduits through the city, releasing it from Citron’s grasp.
Adrian,
Liza and Childs are victorious. The prisoners are freed and their
city is saved. Adrian is transported to a hospital, and from his
room atop the medical tower, has a view of the newly restored city,
glistening like the land of Oz.
But
lurking in the rubble of his decimated complex, Citron struggles to
save a single METALMAN spray can. All it takes is one…