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In the mid-1800's Robert Stark married Alice Foster. As his father had done before him, he took his new bride on a tour of Europe. In the Alps of Switzerland they wandered into a small clockmaker's shop that had been in the mountain village for over 200 hundred years. Alice was enchanted by a beautiful mahogany mantle clock. Robert, ever solicitous of the whims of his lovely bride, purchased it for her on the spot. And on the mantle the clock ticks on........ |
A strange tableau was displayed on the expensive carpet in the study in Avengers Mansion. The Avengers, Earth's mightiest heroes, lay strewn in various positions as soft gray tendrils of smoke coalesced into a shadowy figure. One by one, each of them tried to regain consciousness.
Captain America's eyes flickered slightly. Through his slightly parted lids he watched as the smoky frame manifested itself into a grotesque parody of Baron Zemo - the same Zemo he had fought years ago. The image wavered and reformed but this time as the headless corpse of Baron Blood and then again as the shattered body of his young partner Bucky. As these thoughts drifted through his head Captain America's mind retreated again into blissful unconsciousness.
As the Mind Alien gathered in the room, gloating over his victims, each Avengers, in turn, saw different manifestations. Yellowjacket saw himself, over and over again, in a series of different and failed identities; Beast also saw himself, first as he transformed into the blue-furred being he now was, next as an Apocolyptic Beast, becoming more stupid each time he used his strength and finally himself imprisoned, as the evil Dark Beast tricked and preyed on his friends; Namor saw women he had loved and lost, some to death like Dorma and Betty Dean Prentiss, others, like Susan Richards, to other men who had come before him; Vision saw repeated incarnations of Ultron and himself and finally he saw Wanda, who he had loved and lost and loved again; Dr. Amazing saw figure after figure, each with their backs turned to him as they forgot him time after time.
Slowly each Avenger succumbed to insensibility; only one remained vaguely awake. Ms. Marvel observed with almost clinical detachment as the Mind Alien finally formed before her. She had seen herself physically and mentally raped by Marcus, betrayed by her friends and teammates as she was swept off to limbo. Then she watched as her mind and powers were stripped from her by Rogue. Scene after scene of horror appeared but what terrified Carol to the depths of her soul was the fact that she couldn't react, couldn't get upset, couldn't feel any emotion over these events at all. It was like everything had happened to someone else and she was just an observer. She had lost touch with her history, her entire being and the agony of that was more than she could stand. She too drifted into a comatose state. And then there were none.....
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Over one hundred and fifty years after Robert Stark had purchased an impulsive present for his bride the clock sat in what was now Avengers Mansion. Soft tendrils of sunlight glinted off the finely polished mahogany, the rich red wood glowing warmly.
And on the mantle the clock ticks on... |
At long last the Mind Alien stood in triumph over what he expected would be but the first of his victims, the mighty Avengers. His configuration still shifted and changed, sometimes solid, tall and formidable, sometimes thin, slippery almost liquid. Had any of the heroes been awake they would have noticed the one thing that never changed about him - the smell. A sour, rancid odor drifted through the room, the smell of fear, and vomit, and death.
The humanoid members of the team were unconscious, unable to confront their worse fears and memories. The Syntheziod was, however, fully functional, lacking only a psyche to animate him. Vision was submerged but slowly a presence was rising within his brain. Without Vision to control, the mind patterns of Alex Lipton gradually emerged from the sub-directory where they had lain all this time and suddenly he was awake. The Mind Alien, his thoughts attuned only to the expected thoughts of the Avengers he had already defeated, remained unaware, intent only on his gloating.
Alex was confused and frightened. The last thing he recalled was having his brain wave patterns recorded by his father, just in case.... just in case something happened to him as he attempted to expose the corruptness of Roxxon?? Then he must be well and truly dead! For just a moment, the panic of that realization almost consumed him but he fought it back. He had a vague recollection of being here, being in this body, his mind mingled with another's. He was aware that the form he now occupied wasn't human and he struggled to understand how to make it work, much as a paralysis victim has to retrain his muscles when the paralysis leaves.
Through slitted eyes... no... they were optical units, he could see the Mind Alien. He could smell, through his olfactory sensors, the dreadful rancid smell and he almost gagged, but this body seemed to have no gag reflex so he was left with the unsatisfactory feeling of wanting to choke but not being able to. He did however shift ever so slightly, and the Mind Alien turned on him immediately.
"So my artificial man, somehow you have held up against my pretty little pictures have you?" The MA roared with laughter. "Well, if I can't subvert your mind, then I can destroy it, which serves my purpose just as well." With that he loosed a mind blast at Vision. Alex reacted in a way quite in keeping with his human background - he fainted, which allowed his mind to slip back for just a moment - and Vision's own mental screens snapped into place to fill the void left by Alex's retreating consciousness. The Alien screamed with fury as his mind blast deflected harmlessly. He solidified, became as dense as he could, and dove towards Vision.
Alex Lipton returned to awareness only to see the huge figure leaping toward him with obvious malicious intent. In a human body his adrenaline would have surged, in this body, Alex was stunned to feel his entire being become intangible as he began to sink through the floor. Realizing that he had found a way to escape Alex tried to relax, to remain in this non solid form, but he was almost overwhelmed again as he tried to deal with the strange feeling of drifting through hardwood flooring. concrete, steel beams, electrical wiring and heat ducts. He finally managed to recover his normal density on the farthest sub-basement level near the river entrance.
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Faithfully tended by the Avengers butler, Jarvis, the clock kept perfect time. It stopped only yearly, when it was cleaned and serviced by the finest clock-maker in the New York area. In the mansion generations of Starks and countless heroes had come and gone.
And on the mantle the clock ticks on........ |
On the main level of the mansion the Mind Alien was livid with rage, his body unable to retain any one form for more than a few seconds, He roared out his fury that one of his pawns had escaped him. Suddenly he stopped and his grotesque face solidified in an evil smile. He though, Well I had planned to use these Avengers to conquer the other super teams, the Champions, the Defenders, all of them. So why not use some of them now as a.... how do these feeble humans phrase it... ah yes, a trial run.
He reached out a mental tendril to Captain America and commanded him to get up. Glassy eyed and stiff, the star spangled hero arose, his body moving automatically but disconnected from all of his mind but his basic instincts. One little tin soldier to play with... It seemed only appropriate that his next toy should be Dr. Amazing. And now there were two.... The Mind Alien surveyed the others and reached out to Ms Marvel and stopped, stunned at what he found. This mind had already been separated from its emotions before he had even tried. Now this toy was interesting. He turned his attention to Yellowjacket and animated him as well. And his team was complete...
He permitted his minions to gather their weapons and mentally instructed them to go below and recapture Vision. He impressed upon them that Vision's escape was unacceptable - the only possible results would be capture, or death. Satisfied that no assemblance of their own personality would interfere with their mission he sent them off and returned his attentions to Ms. Marvel.
Down the stairs raced the mind controlled Avengers, intent on stopping Vision from escaping. They burst into the sub-basement and confronted the android. Alex Lipton. confused and frightened, had been unable to find the concealed doorway that lead to the river entrance so he had been struggling vainly to learn to control Vision's body. He had barely managed to figure out some density control when Captain America bolted into the room with Yellowjacket and Dr. Amazing right behind him.
Instead of using his shield, as he no doubt would have had he been in complete control of his faculties, Cap tried to strike Vision just as Alex became intangible. Acting out of shear reflex Alex swung at Cap and as his insubstantial hand passed through Steve's chest the flag draped figure collapsed in agony to the ground. Yellowjacket raised his arms and fired a bio blast at Vision, but it passed through his still ethereal form and smashed into a control panel behind, sending sparks flying into the air. Alex was unsure what to do next when he saw Dr. Amazing raise his psi-gun and then discharge from it hit his brain. The two of them screamed and fell to the ground, their minds linked and their limbs paralyzed. As Captain America rose, he and Yellowjacket looked in triumph at the motionless form of Vision lying under the blue and yellow costumed Dr. Amazing.
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As the afternoon wore on sunbeams that streamed in the window hit the spotless clock crystal and caused the milky face to glow with an almost iridescent glow as the golden hands swept ever forward marking off the minutes as they had done for years.
And on the mantle the clock ticks on........ |
Carol Danvers, better know to the world as Ms. Marvel stood, swaying slightly, before the Mind Alien. He reached gingerly into her mind. probing and questing, slowly re-establishing connections that had been severed for years. Tears streamed down Carol's face as she re-experienced things that had happened in the past, things not even Professor Xavier had been able to get her in touch with. She dropped to her knees, weeping uncontrollably, but it was not the tears of sorrow or grief, instead it was a cleansing experience as she finally was connected to her life again.
The Mind Alien was pleased, and was contemplating disconnecting her emotions again to see her reaction when a noise in the doorway caught his attention. There stood Captain America and Yellowjacket, between them, the limp body of the Vision. Behind them strolled Dr. Amazing, his arms crossed on his chest, his psi-gun held negligently in one hand, and he smiled victoriously. The MA laughed.
"Ahhh my little soldiers have returned and they have brought me the tin man, beaten and ready to be controlled once again. I don't know how you escaped my command before Vision, but this time you are MINE."
"NO! Not this time!" Dr. Amazing stepped forward. The Mind Alien was stunned but started to exert his thoughts towards the aging hero, when Dr. Amazing brought forth his psi-gun and fired. Instantly the two were locked together in mental battle. The MA, already tired from his control of the other Avengers and from his experimentation with Carol, now found himself in a stalemate, neither of the opponents able to move.
Namor lurched into action against Captain America, his natural grace and fighting skill hampered by the already weakening mind control of the Alien. Beast likewise tackled Yellowjacket. leaving a still uncertain Alex Lipton to use Vision's body to try to deal with Ms. Marvel. When he and Dr. Amazing had been momentarily mind linked by the psi gun it had been enough to snap the domination of the Mind Alien. Dr. Amazing had then been able to use his prior mental link ( * see last issue) with the Avengers to free Captain America and Yellowjacket. He could feel Vision's memories and thoughts slowly seeping into his mind and directing his actions. He and Carol grappled but he could tell that her mind wasn't in it, she seemed distracted, distant. He, of course, didn't realize that she was finally in touch with herself after years of deprivation.
At one side of the room the Mind Alien and Dr. Amazing stood, their hands gripping each others shoulders, eyes locked, motionless in mental battle. Dr. Amazing could still feel the slightest hint of the psychic bond he had formed with the other Avengers and he reached out to draw their minds to his. As his thoughts touched each of them they stopped fighting and joined with him to battle the Alien. The one mind that remained unlinked was that of Alex Lipton. As he felt Vision's memories swelling he could also sense his own self slipping and he struggled to remain. Suddenly he broke free, and then he was a part of all of the Avengers, uniting them, strengthening them. He knew what he had to do now. Together the eight minds pushed at the Mind Alien, not stopping for a moment and then, suddenly, it was over. The Alien was gone, the mind, the body, the smell, all gone as if they had never been there.
As the mental links between the team dissolved, Alex touched each of their minds briefly, a greeting to some, a farewell to others he knew of and then he too drifted away, drifted visible at the edge of their sight, a soft pink-grey presence, floating, hovering and finally dispersing in front of the fireplace mantle.
Slightly bewildered, the Avengers looked at each other. Their minds once again their own they were all vaguely aware of Alex's farewell. Then slowly, one by one they turned to Dr. Amazing, and the memories began to flood back. He was one of them,; had been for years. As they gathered around him, shaking his hand and welcoming him back to their ranks, only Vision turned away for a moment. He gazed with longing and a sense of loss at the fireplace and shed a silent tear for that which had left him.
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Throughout the universe, time proceeds, entropy can not be halted. Men are born, and live, and die, and time goes ever forward. Their foe vanquished the Avengers team was now able to move on, but with two casualties. In Avengers mansion the clock on the mantle ticked one last time, and for it, as for Alex Lipton, time stopped.
But at long last, the lives of Carol Danvers and Dr. Amazing ticked on..... |