Machine Man and the Corporation

[IMG]http://i52.tinypic.com/ma9lkg.jpg[/IMG]


(Machine Man 8, I posted pictures. Just a little word about Corporation villain)

So Machine Man offers himself for the release of his friend, psychiatrist Peter Spaulding. The Corporation’s plan to build replicas of his photographed, disassembled parts is served by powerful corrosive acid spouts within the abandoned missile silo, foiling an easy race to the top on magnetized boots. What other powers and ideas will he have? What threats await him? Will his personhood be destroyed in the dissection plans of the Corporation? What would the world do with such a body as his own sold in copies to the highest bidder?


Colonel Kragg’s flying over a remote area, now ordered to stop this from happening. He tracks the ski-marks left outside Spalding’s house, criss-crossing offbeat routes by which they might disappear, and spots the chopper with ski landing gear---about to take off! He will ride herd, take the pilot into custody, and find Machine Man!


Pale blue light represents the “gamma wave probing” that terminates in sizzling yellow light like that of the floor. Machine Man’s floor and and walls go to orange and a light green, which frame his nimble conversion of finger units into rocket tubes inside his lower legs! His “normal circuit check” initiates his blast-off: “I’m probably the Last Missle this silo will ever fire! And the first to mess up the plans of a criminal empire!” Sonic wave bearing guards take him out of the sky.

Though taken prisoner, Machine Man’s already reassembling his hand-weapons system out of sight.



The sonic wave thing is their equalizer, so they might attempt to cajole and explain respectability is not what they are after. The fate of the original, at his asking, goes unexplained, and he’s essentially turned off, as they prepare his fateful analysis.


Peter Spalding’s memory is the last hope; the pilot fears the Corporation far more than jail. He and Kragg soon seek out the mountain wherein Machine Man fights for his life.



The hidden base: his life batteries are declared “fused” and the copying of his body begins. Alone, a bright flash spreads: it’s alive! Moving destroys the equipment; sonics fill the air. They can bring on their sonic howizters now, though; it’s time for the “hand weapons system!”



Ten minutes to live? With that transmission, the Corporation’s already making good their escape. Tension springs and raw strength allow him to explore this for himself, and there’s a “holocaust box” left for him, with a hidden a-bomb ! “If I had pores, I’d be sweating!” Infra red lens allow him to follow the escaped crooks by their footsteps, and now here is a pneumatic railway tunnel, with no car for him.

“Naturally, those dog-robbers took the last available car! I’ve got to improvise ---or die!”


Running: not enough. Arm-treads provide a supply of wheels, from inside his arm; with superhuman dexterity he takes them off to affix to the sides of his boots, and soon is racing down the track, gaining on the car containing the shadowy Corporation men! His body sensors though sense “critical mass!”
Kragg’s jet fighter lucks into the recognizable mountain top; tensions mount. But no sooner does Doctor Spalding point out the peak than he’s warned, “shield your eyes, fast!” A machine man purple mountain billows with smoke as its peak explodes.