4-Victory #15

Victory Castle floats high above the skyline of New York City-- a somewhat odd juxtaposition, an old medieval castle above the modern skyscrapers. But inside are even more odd juxtapositions. After all, it's a medieval castle that contains-- inexplicable, alien-ish, high-tech devices! All the members of 4-Victory can't figure out what strange machine dominates the center of … "the Esoterographry Room?" the Mole Man reads from the door. The Fantastic Girl's shape-changed, gigantic, satellite dish-ears can sense a deep hum coming from it, and the Wizard floats high overhead. He calls out to Doctor Octopus to keep his "hands" off-- ALL of 'em. And Electro? He surprises everyone, saying he can narrow it down to two possibilities…

***

It's either a giant doo-hickey, or a powerful doo-dad, says Electro. Wizard rolls his eyes. He's TRYING to be serious. Mr. Victorious became a Herald of Galactus, leaving for deep space and leaving THEM the fruits of his weird "arcanotech." But it seems no one but Von Doome could understand this weird hybrid of science and magic.

"Nonsense!" Doc Ock waves that aside. He's a genius in technology, radiology, and physics. We can figure this out! The Mole Man isn't so sure-- he was able to discover and appropriate strange and alien technology from the underground worlds he uncovered, but this is something else entirely! "What does it matter?" the Wizard points out. "Let Victorious have his little toys. We have our own!" (He does a little loop-the-loop mid-air.) But Doc Ock isn't paying attention. He's asking Fantastic Girl how it compares the technology of the various alien worlds she had visited. Wide-eyed, she's afraid to even try. But she is curious…

Electro offers help again, and everyone turns to him, suspiciously. No, no, really. He's been trying to push the extent of his powers-- and machines run on electricity, right? So what if he "feels" around with his electrical powers and see if he can't get it to work? With no objections, Electro steels himself for the effort, and lights up the room with lightning! The esoterograph whirs and lights, its various tubes and valves piping pinkish-yellow light and smoke-- until a tremendous explosion sends Electro rocketing backward-- the same pinkish-yellow light running up and down his body, revealing portions of his musculature and skeleton.

Fantastic Girl uses a fan-morphed hand as she cradles Electro. Why is it that curiosity always leads to trouble, she wonders? (Although Mole Man wonders if that was a loaded statement with meaning that stretched somewhere into her past.) The Wizard waves it all away. Victorious obviously mastered the use of the animon "spirit-particle," but were they each not masters of their own sciences? Why, anything Mr. Victorious could do, the Wizard could just as easily do as well-- whipping up his own device that could … "I know!" Doctor Octopus chimed in, cutting him off. "So can I!"

Wha--? You could tell by the Wizard's facial expression that the interruption was more than a little unwelcome. He thought-- the Wizard had devoted all of his genius to strive ever upward, to make sure that there wasn't ANYTHING he couldn't do. His inventions boarded on the fantastic, the magical! He took pride in that and wanted to share his pride, his wonder, with world!! But when Doctor Octopus pretty much said the same thing-- well, then it just sounded petty and prideful.

The two science-heroes were face to face, but their confrontation boiled over to basically-- "oh, yeah!" "Yeah!" Very well, then. Doc Ock proposes a challenge-- to create a device similar to such arcanotech that Mr. Victorious might produce. The other members of 4-Victory look at each other warily. Fantastic Girl, in particular, hates what she is seeing. She thought she had found a team that wanted to help each other, to help the world…

***

Some time later-- "Many strange things can happen in hobo jungles, but we feel safe in saying that THIS is the strangest…" Enter-- a bright green-skinned alien! In answer to the transient people's questions, it is from the planet Poppup, in the tenth galaxy. "Not that it matters much…" It in turn asks his own question-- where to eat? The homeless people remark with chagrin that it takes cash to eat, and an offhand comment sends the alien to some random bank. Its sudden appearance (using its ability to change into anything from a jet plane to an ant) spooks the banker and the police, sparking a shoot-out! ("I must say that you earthmen have the STRANGEST customs!"

***
When 4-Victory assembles again, Doctor Octopus is showing off his invention-- a Cyber-sympathetic Regulator. After all, his mental control over his tentacled "coat of arms" is almost akin to the use of arcanotech. Why not create a hand-held device that could control ANY machine?

You mean, a universal remote? The Wizard scoffs. He's got a ray gun! An "Id Ray!" to be precise. After all, the wiring of a human brain is just that-- wiring. His device can sublimate a person's will, hypnotizing him by circumventing the ego and superego of the psyche! And he tests it on-- Doc Ock?! "Hey, watch o--" the move was sharp and sudden. Doc Ock was struck dumb, standing with head to his side, his force of will gone! The Mole Man and Fantastic Girl are in agreement, but it is Electro who voices it for them all-- "Dude. Not cool."

The Wizard is struck immediately with regret. Why did he have to prove himself? Why was he always comparing his achievement with others? Sure, it allowed him to strive, but if it also hurt someone… He apologized to Octopus, and in his frustration with himself, flung the Id Ray away!

Uh-oh. That wasn't good. The Id Ray goes haywire! All of 4-Victory is bathed in its strange, bubbling energies! At first, they stand dumb with their heads to their sides. That is, until the Fantastic Girl elongates her arm to touch Mole Man from across the room. "Tag! You're it!" Ha, ha! The heroes of 4-Victory scatter-- he's it! Nuh-uh! No tag backs! What fun!

***

Elsewhere, the police are shaking hands with the strange alien. Sorry about that, he apologizes-- it appears he was under a mistaken impression. Quite all right, they assure it, graciously accepting its apology. What's its name? "Names? We Poppupians have no names. We KNOW who we are." But, taking a suggestion from the officer, it sounds like the "Impossible Man" is as good as any. Now, if he could point the way to a nice forest, or perhaps a nice beach or other landscape? POP! It transforms into a luxurious tree, as an example. You see, it just wants to sit. And rest. And think.

Central Park? Perfect, of course! POP! The Impossible Man changes to copy the form of the famous Balto statue, then elsewhere, POP! of a carriage horse, and later POP! of a centipede. But instead, POP! it settles into the form a quietly flowering cherry tree.

That's when the screaming started.

Annoyed that its attempt to find simple silence had failed yet again, the Impossible Man investigated-- seeing some of the 4-Victors causing havoc near the carousel! The Mole Man was "surfing" on the back of the Fantastic Girl, ("Whee!") riding every new morphing form she morphed-- and each one matching a different figure on the carousel (horsey, tiger, dolphin, sleigh, etc.) They were chasing Electro, who rode his carrier wave of electricity like his own surfboard ("Yahoo!") and the Wizard, who twisted and twirled with anti-gravitic ease ("Ha ha ha!") But with every bank and turn, they ran up against, smashed, or otherwise destroyed the figures along the carousel.

Electro frowned. This merry-go-round was just way to slow. Time for a little juice! Pouring on the electricity from his body, the carousel went faster and faster, and if any screaming pedestrian hadn't fled already, they were fleeing in droves, now! Finally, the speeding carousel flung the Victors outward, and they landed, hard, but full of laughter.

"Hey, guys! I said wait up!" Not everyone can FLY you know. Doctor Octopus is a bit frustrated. "Now, stop it!" He reaches out with his tentacles, stopping the carousel's momentum cold. Kee-rash! The forces working against it was too much, and it explodes in splinters!

"Whatcha do THAT for?" the Wizard gets into Doc Ock's face. (Mole Man: "Uh-oh.") The Wizard continued, the better judgment of his superego overwhelmed by the Id Ray, and he unleashed. "Who even INVITED you? I worked HARD to get here, to be at the top of my game! You? You're nothing but an accident! A lab accident with delusions of grandeur!" Poke!

"Shut UP!" Ock fights back. "Don't touch me! No one can touch me anymore!" With that, he uses his tentacles to PUSH! the Wizard away, the speed of the tentacles catching him off guard. Electro gave him a zap, too, for good measure. He got his powers in an accident, too! So what did that make HIM?

The Fantastic Girl threw up her hands. In-fighting and civil war? This wasn't fun anymore. Maybe she better go off 'sploring again. Her lower body coiled into a spring and she jumped away, but the Mole Man blasted her from behind with a beam from his staff. No! he said. He wanted her to stay! Unless-- yes, he knew it! She must think he was ugly, just like the REST of them!

POP! A giant white flag appeared in the middle of the scene-- the Impossible Man just had to step in! Things were getting out of hand, and he was a being who sought peace and serenity. POP! He became a bed, with the Wizard lying in the middle. "Perhaps it would be best if we ALL sought peace and serenity right now." FWOOM! The Wizard unleashed a wave of energy to free himself, and he flew away with another blast at the (POP!) now diamond-like alien.

"A Poppupian?!" The Fantastic Girl turned into an "Impossible Woman," momentarily disarming the other alien. (Literally-- his arms POPped off!) "A Skrull?" The I-Man thought they only preferred to work behind-the-scenes? POP! He turned into a glass sphere with the Fantastic Girl inside. Growing smaller and smaller, he forced the Fantastic Girl to adopt smaller and smaller shapes. When Mole Man tried to blast the glass sphere, POP! he flew away as a toy plane, and the F-Girl was blasted instead. The Mole Man ran after the Impossible Man, but instead POP! the Mole Man was now a marionette to the I-Man's strings and boards. POP! The Impossible Man reverted to form, but the Mole Man remained "strung up" as a result.

"Impy" was forced to take the defensive against Electro and Doctor Octopus. ("He wants to stop our fun!") He POPped into a swarm of little Imp-Man-like insects to avoid their barrage, but then POPped into a rubber version of himself, insulating against Electro. The surprise allowed him to clock Electro a "good one!" according to the Wizard.

The rubber-form wasn't as effective against Doctor Octopus, who grabbed the Impossible Man between two tentacles, stretching him 'til he nearly ripped! Time to fight fire with fire! POP! The Impossible Man became a true octopus, matching Octopus tentacle-for-tentacle. But the Impossible Man could grow MORE arms, if needed. POP! POP! POP! The arms finally overwhelmed Ock.

The Wizard was the only one left now-- and he backed away from the advancing alien. All he wanted was to have fun! He LIKED his powers, his scientific discoveries. Why couldn't he just have FUN with them? Why did he feel forced to justify it all by being a hero? It was all Octopus' fault! If it hadn't been for HIM, he'd have never wrecked the Id Ray--

The Impossible Man snapped to attention. Was this human foolish enough to create an Id machine? In ray form? POP! He turned into a squat but expansive crystal. "Look deep into the Crystal of Integration for clarity and focus!" The crystal housed a small but churning form of energy, and as the Wizard stared at the center, his mind re-aligned! One by one, the Victors came out of their daze.

POP! The Impossible Man returned to form, his hands on head, sulking. "Bah! What a bunch of irresponsible, foolish children on this planet! And I thought I was going to have a lot of peace and quiet! Phooey! I'm gonna find me ANOTHER planet where a being can do nothing but sit around! Earth is too … violent!"

The 4-Vees watched the Impossible Man POP into a spaceship and soar away. "So…" Doc Ock began, "I guess this means *I* won the contest?" The Wizard scoffed. What are you talking about? If anything, it would be a draw. The two began to walk away from the scene, but the Mole Man was a bit more introspective. What would happen now-- now that they were left with their own inner-most ids exposed. What would Octopus say against Wizard's accusations? Who knew the struggle that Wizard wrestled with? (Electro privately noticed the Mole Man didn't ask the questions about himself-- was Fantastic Girl really ready to leave? Would the Mole Man let her go? And how did HE really fit into it all?) These next few days would certainly be… interesting!

Cover and text by Danny Wall

Comments

[Danny]

Okay, a lot going on in this issue, huh? Not only was it a crazy week for a chock-full issue, but this issue was pretty hard to write, acutally. And yes, I know I don't write traditional short stories for my fanfic, but that doesn't mean I don't go through a heavy-duty process on 'em. Case in point--

Draft 1-- It all started with a rivalry between Wizard and Doctor Octopus. I definately wanted to show that. In this draft, tho, there wasn't anything Flipped from the Marvel universe. It was basically "scientific inventions run amok," and I wanted to bring SOMETHING in.

Draft 2-- After looking at numerous FF covers for inspiration, I finally decided on the Impossible Man. Perhaps the rivalry betweein Wiz and Ock summoned the alien, and they had to put aside their differences to stop the whimsical Poppupian? Well that didnt' work. First, it's too "standard" a plot. Second, it doesn't really FLIP the Impossible Man.

But this points out a constant trap I try my best to avoid-- I mean, sure, the basic rule is "Heroes are villains, villains are heroes." But if this keeps up, we'll get a world full of heroes and not enough villains to go around! So it's always more interesting if I can FLIP a villain in an unexpected way.

Draft 3-- The Impossible Man isn't the thrill-seeking Marvel version. Instead, he seeks... uh, sadness? He's the Impossible Emo? No, no, no. Maybe he causes sadness or tragedy, and 4-Victory has to ultimately show him that they can be happy even in trying times? Yeesh. Now he's the Impossible Eeyore. I scrapped it all and just said that the Impossible Man would be exactly like the Marvel U. counterpart. I'd even use some of the script lifted from Fantastic Four #11. This way, the focus of my story would be on the members of 4-Victory and not simply the villain-of-the-month.

Draft 4-- When writing about the Wiz/Ock "bake off," as I termed it, I realized the Wizard had made something like "arcanotech" in real-Marvel. His id-machine. Aha! Wasn't the Impossible Man really just an overblown "id" of the human psyche? Hmm. Perhaps 4-Victory would get "infected" by the Impossible Man's id? No, wait! The Imp-Man would feed off of the others' id... No. wait. This was going nowehere! Just have the two sides fight, and leave it at that. If only there wasn't that germ of a connection there...

Draft 5-- As I was outlining as best I could, I realized what I could finally Flip. The Impossible Man wouldn't be looking for FUN, he'd be looking for REST. But what kind of story can you have when the character just wants to sit around and do nothing? Ah-- what if it was 4-Victory that wanted to have fun, and the alien had to stop them from wrecking the place! Finally, things started to fall into place.

Draft-- Ah, it's too late for that. The outline is there, and if I could, I'd rewrite several places. At least it has the "bake-off" and rivalry between Wiz and Ock. It foreshadows some things about Mole Man and Fantastic Girl. It still shows Electro as odd man out. And I liked the set up where it SEEMS as if the Impossible Man will be the villain, but it turns out it's a misunderstanding.

I hate the fact that I basically resort to a deus ex machina to restore the heroes. (In fact, I originally had Impy tranform into a Ego/Superego Ray-- literally creating a "machina!") Really, tho, it would have been too much to juggle otherwise and I had to cut it short. Ah well, perhaps there's a Flipside world out there in which I can write more, draw more, and have more time in the week. Until then, I hope enjoy!