The house was in flames. Agent Wanda Mason watched as the west wing of the estate of the legendary Doc Savage burned. She knew that the aged hero was still inside, as was the still-comatose Atlantean Princess Namorita. She had to save them!
She ran back inside. The smoke blinded her and the heat was incredible, but she couldn't let Savage and Namorita die.
She tried to find her way to the stairway that led to the basement laboratory. Suddenly, she bumped into the floating automaton H.E.R.B.I.E., Savage's mechanical servant. He carried a scuba tank and breathing apparatus. He offered it to Agent Mason.
"Perhaps this will be of use, agent," the robot said.
Agent Mason put the scuba gear on. H.E.R.B.I.E. floated into the smoke. "Please follow me to the lab, agent," the robot said. "Dr. Savage and Princess Namorita need assistance."
H.E.R.B.I.E. led Agent Mason down the stairs to the lab. A foam and water spray was putting out the flames in the laboratory, but there was still a lot of smoke. Doc Savage was unconscious on the floor. Namorita still floated safely in her water-filled tank. Agent Mason assumed that she would be all right, since she was safe from the smoke and the flames were out, at least in this area. So saving Savage was the primary goal. She tried to drag him, but he was very heavy. With H.E.R.B.I.E.'s help, she lugged him onto a chair and rolled him to the private elevator, took him up to the first floor and outside.
Agent Mason stood outside the manor as the firemen worked to put out the flames caused by the mysterious blast. The ambulance took Doc Savage away. Other federal agents arrived and reported to agent Mason. "I want to know what caused that blast!" she ordered. "I'm pretty sure it was a bomb, but I want to know for certain. As soon as it's safe, I want the whole place gone over with a fine-tooth-comb. I want to know everything! Clear?"
The agents acknowledged the order. H.E.R.B.I.E. floated over to Agent Mason. "I've checked on Princess Namorita," the robot said. "The explosion did damage to the computer systems, but the default back-ups are still working. The chamber is functioning at 73% efficiency. I calculate that this will be sufficient until Mr. Lockhart arrives."
"The guy from the Sea Devils, right?"
"Yes. I've contacted him and he has offered to come and repair the machinery. He helped the Doctor build it. So as long as the structural integrity of the building remains stable, the princess will be safe."
"Good," Mason said. "Listen, keep me updated on Dr. Savage's condition. I have somewhere to go. I'm sure it was a bomb that nearly killed Savage and I think Doom is behind it. I need more information to break this case. And I know someone who might have it!"
SLABSIDE ISLAND MAXIMUM SECURITY PENITENTIARY
Also known as the "Slab". Doc Savage, Hank Pym and other brilliant scientific minds, designed this special high security prison. If a convict is a super villain considered too dangerous to be placed in a regular penitentiary, then he's placed in the "Slab". Agent Mason was here to see the criminal mastermind known as the Wizard.
The guard brought the Wizard to the visiting room. He sat and looked over Agent Mason. "Who are you?"
"I'm special agent Wanda Mason. I'd like to talk to you."
The Wizard smiled at the pretty agent. "What about, my dear?"
"The Doom Patrol."
"I see."
"I know that there's some type of code against talking to the Feds about your peers, but . . . "
"I'll talk," the Wizard immediately said.
Agent Mason was surprised by this display of friendly accommodation. "Not that I want to start off our relationship by being skeptical, but you agreed rather easily."
"I don't blame you for being suspicious," the Wizard said. "But think of it from my end. Dr. Doom hired me and told me that if me and my Lethal Legion got caught, he had the political stroke to get us out. But I've been here for months and he's done nothing. I don't like being double-crossed and so if there's anything I can do to make life difficult for Mr. High-and-mighty-Dr. Doom, so much the better. Besides, how often does a lifer get to talk to such an attractive woman."
Agent Mason wasn't sure if he was sincere, but if she could get him to talk, she could hopefully weed out the lies from the falsehoods. And maybe, just maybe, he was telling the truth.
"All right then, let's talk," she said. "Firstly, what were you hired by Dr. Doom to do? Did it have anything to do with Godzilla?"
"I believe it did," he said. "We were supposed to search for a large organic form on the ocean floor, and for strong traces of radiation. Basically, I think we were looking for a giant radioactive corpse. Given the area of the Pacific Ocean, I would assume it was Godzilla. But Doom wasn't very forthcoming with his employees. He had a tendency to talk down to us. That was another thing I didn't like about him."
"Which area?"
The Wizard considered. "I believe I'll keep that to myself. Loose lips, and all that."
"I see. So, Doom didn't hire you to fight the Doom Patrol?"
"Not at all," the Wizard answered. "We were working for him for quite a while. We had only recently formed when we got his commission. He liked us because we are all scientists or engineers of some type. All but Mallah. Doom hired him separately and basically forced him on us. I think he was there to spy on us for Doom."
"What did he hire you to do?"
"When we were hired, he told us that he had a scientific mission for us to go on, but first he wanted to see our mettle. He told us to kill Mr. Terrific, the protégé of his rival Clark Savage. About that time, we were looking for a fourth member. A rogue scientist who called himself the Mad Thinker approached us. We decided to test him before we let him join. We assigned him to the task of killing Mr. Terrific. I went with him to rate his performance and to see if he succeeded."
Eighteen months earlier . . .
The Wizard and the Mad Thinker were inside a truck, designed on the outside to look like a Ryder rental truck, but inside was a complex laboratory. They were parked across the street from the Tech Quest Research center. They monitored the building with hidden camera, which displayed the center on a dozen monitors. The Mad Thinker worked on a large robot. On the outside, it seemed a fairly simple piece of machinery, but a look at the inside showed the Wizard that it was a very advanced device. The Wizard refused to admit he was impressed. He continued watching the monitors, waiting impatiently for their quarry to appear.
"Are you sure he'll be here?" the Wizard asked.
"Absolutely," the Mad Thinker answered. "Earlier today, I heard about an encounter Mr. Terrific had with a fool brandishing a laser gun. Judging by his past actions, he will bring the confiscated weapon here within the next seventy-nine minutes."
"We'll see," the Wizard said, and waited as the Thinker finished working on his robot. He watched people come and go. He was surprised when he saw Rita Farr, the movie star entering. "What's she doing here?"
"I researched the facility," the Mad Thinker said. "Miss Farr's father is a scientist. He works here."
Seventy-five minutes later, Mr. Terrific arrived. "Well I'll be . . . !" the Wizard said, as the flying Terrifi-car landed in front of the building.
"Never doubt me," the Mad Thinker said.
Mr. Terrific and his friend/partner Cliff Steele went into the research center with the laser gun.
"Go!" the Thinker told the robot. "Initiative 39117. Kill!"
The Robot stepped out of the truck and stalked towards the research center. He crashed through the front doors. The Mad Thinker smiled. "My robot shall have succeeded in its mission in exactly 14.5 minutes."
"It had better," the Wizard said.
They waited for ten minutes. They heard a lot of noises coming from inside. The Wizard was starting to have doubts. "I wish we could see what was going on," he said.
"It is unnecessary to monitor my robot's progress. It will succeed," The Thinker countered.
Just then, Mr. Terrific came running outside. The Wizard noticed that the Mad Thinker looked surprise. "Wasn't this on your schedule?"
The Mad Thinker shook his head, disbelieving. "He should not have escaped the building!"
"Well he did!"
Outside the truck, Mr. Terrific jumped into the seat of his Terrifi-car. It hovered in the air and turned its front end towards the door. The robot came lumbering out after him. The robot was badly damaged. It had lots of cracks and a four-inch hole in its chest.
"How did he do so much damage in so short a time?" The Mad Thinker asked incredulously.
Mr. Terrific pressed a button in the Terrifi-car. A clamp and cable shot out of the front of the car. It penetrated the robot through the hole in its chest. Mr. Terrific pressed another button. The robot took a few steps but then started to teeter and rock. It grabbed the cable and tried to break it but didn't seem to have the strength left.
"It must a re-charger device!" the Thinker speculated.
"Yes," the Wizard agreed. "He's draining the robot's power off into his flying car."
Finally, the Terrifi-car had soaked up all the power from the robot. The robot fell to the ground immobile. The Mad Thinker and the Wizard watched as the police and ambulances showed up. Rita Farr appeared again as someone was carried out on a stretcher. Terrific appeared concerned about the person on the stretcher.
"We'd better get out of here!" the Wizard said. He drove the truck a few blocks away and then stopped. He glared at the Mad Thinker. "Well?"
The Thinker had regained his composure. "I cannot be blamed for this," the Mad Thinker said. "I was given insufficient time to consider all variables in my calculations. If I had more time, would have researched the abilities of the Terrifi-car more thoroughly. Also, the equipment you gave me to build my robot was no doubt sub-standard. I can't be expected to do quality work with low quality materials."
The Wizard was angry. "I see. Well then, I shouldn't subject you to having to work with an incompetent group like ours. In other words . . . Get out!"
The Wizard tossed the Mad Thinker out the back of his truck, and then drove away. The Mad Thinker slipped into the shadows, hoping no one saw him.
The present . . .
The Wizard sat back in his chair. "That was the end of the Mad Thinker's membership. As for Mr. Terrific, he got away with hardly a scratch. However, his friend Cliff Steele was injured. I believe that this injury was the reason he ended up being Robotman. Also, I believe Rita Farr's presence had something to do with her becoming Elasti-Girl, but I'm not positive about that."
"What did Doom say when you failed?" Agent Mason asked.
"He was initially verbally abusive but he calmed down quickly and then gave us our further orders."
"He asked you to do something else for him after you failed?"
"Yes, strangely enough. Given his reputation for impatience with failure, I expected to be discharged. But he was eager for us to get started immediately on the ocean project. I guess he felt that he wouldn't find any better a team for his purposes than we of the Lethal Legion. Anyway, we spent some time researching the ocean, when Namorita and Savage's nephew came upon us. They escaped but we later learned that the young Savage had received a fatal wound and died later. Dr. Doom realized that Savage was on to him and so paid us extra to go and kill him. He made us wait a while so that the loss of Savage would have time for the loss of his nephew to seep in. After a few weeks, we went after him, but we were surprised to find the whole Doom Patrol waiting for us. We almost had them beat, but Mr. Terrific made a . . . unique move. He capitalized on the one mistake I made and turned things around. I was furious with him but actually I respected him. I'm sorry he's dead. I was hoping for a rematch someday once I escape."
"And that's all you know?"
"That's all my dear. We were arrested after the Doom Patrol battle. I remember how mad I was when I saw the Negative Man bragging to the press about how he'd led the Doom Patrol to victory over us. Strangely, I never saw any leadership ability from him. I would have thought that Mr. Terrific was the leader."
"He was."
"Ahhh! Good. That makes me feel better. I would hate to be defeated by a squad led by an impulsive fool like the Negative Man."
"You wouldn't know anything about his kidnapping, would you?"
"No. How would I? I'm in jail."
Agent Mason was on the boat back to the mainland. She tried to absorb all the information. Slowly things were coming together but there were still so many missing pieces. When she got off the boat, she didn't notice the mad in hiding watching her.
Somewhere else on Earth, there was a flash of light. Someone appeared. Someone who wasn't on Earth an hour prior. He had come here from a distant planet and his mission was to free the destructive monster Godzilla!
Next issue: Strange things are happening on Earth, and Agent Mason meets Elasti-Girl. Will she be able to shed some light on the situation? The mystery continues in issue #5 of Doom Patrol.