Three significant things had happened in 1942, and two of them had involved Al Pratt the Golden Age Atom.

Firstly, in Big City, Tommy Rogers (son of district attorney Dan Rogers and his wife Martha) had teamed with two friends, boys known as Tubby and Toughy to form Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys. They had begun their career by secretly aiding Dan’s war against a crime wave which had made its way to their own club house. The trio had remained active until 1948, by which time Toughy had remained as short and slim as he had been as a kid six years earlier.

Secondly, in 1942, the Justice Society of America had used a scientist’s time ray to go 500 years into the future, to the year 2442 and gather materials needed for a defense formula in 1942. Al Pratt, the Atom, had gone over the Pacific Ocean and on to a city towering above snow capped peaks, where a race of giants lived. He had been captured by giant military officers in purple uniforms. One of the giant men had taken him home and given him to his wife Carla. The giantess was a beautiful dark brown haired woman with a long red dress, that had white lace on its V-neck. She had put him into a golden cage which hung from the roof and kept him as a pet. He had subsequently escaped and returned to 1942.

The Atom was slightly shorter than the average man, and had been so small that the woman could easily hold him in her hand. The third significant development was his battle with the Cyclotron in 1942, which had caused a side effect which would not manifest until around 1947. In 1947, the Atom began exhibiting ‘atomic strength’.

When the Blue Boys’ adventures seemed to come to an end in 1948, Toughy noticed that he had not grown in stature at all in the entire five years. He was still as small as a child in his early teens. The boys went their separate ways.

Meanwhile Al Pratt had married a woman who had eventually matured out of her original objection to his height, and was still active in the Justice Society of America. The group had begun to act more like a team when handling cases. In the first few years of their adventures, they had simply gone off, each member alone on a solo mission which came under the umbrella theme of the case itself. It was around 1948 that the members began to team up in groups and tackle matters together.

One day Toughy was on a holiday, when he came across a mugging. He quickly waded into the fight and kayoed the two men. He then introduced himself to a teenaged boy.

“I’m Rip,” said the boy, “Rip Hunter. I have been trying to design a time machine that can be used again and again, and only come up with time travel devices that can make three or four trips. I suspect that it’ll be well into the 1950s before I have a durable model. Nevertheless,  I’ve invited the Justice Society of America to send one of their members to take the next journey with me, as time travel has proved useful to them before. After what you’ve done, I’d be honored if you had the opportunity to make the time trip with me.”

“I’d love to,” said Toughy.