Tom Prescott, a worker at the Hudson building, picks up a hitch-hiker as he drives home after working late. As he drops the man off, a strange bracelet made of hydrochromatized steel is locked to his wrist and he is told that the key is in a filing cabinet in his office at the Hudson Building. Prescott races back to the building to unlock the bracelet before the explosives device set into it detonates. He arrives at the building just in time, but is still descending from his office in the elevator when the device explodes. The elevator plunges into the basement and Prescott is trapped at the bottom of the lift shaft.