Prologue
Awareness came quickly.
Quicker than last time, Mindbender recalled, while suspended with in the cloning chamber in comparison to when that level of development was reached with his previously cloned self.
If Cobra Commander ever found out about this, he'd go out of his way to seek out and destroy every one of his cloning labs Mindbender established. Cobra was the kind of organization where one had to be constantly aware of who was doing what, so to avoid having a knife deeply buried in one's back. But the risk of such was far outweighed by the benefits of being on the forefront of a organization who's goals of toppling the currently stagnating political systems of the World, and rule with dominating, totalitarian force like rulers of old—without having to deal with the headaches which came with democracy. Considering how badly current governments were so horribly mired in their own egotistical ways, having such power to act was very appealing.
Mindbender was one such person. A formerly kindly dentist whose experimentive work in relieving the pain his patients felt twisted his own mind towards evil; his position was attained soon after the death of Cobra's first Chief Scientist, and held until his contempt of Cobra Commander's leadership ability eventually manifested itself in the cloning experiments that yielded the creation of the 'perfect leader' Serpentor--made from the DNA of histories greatest military leaders, Serpentor was designed to lead Cobra to where it rightfully belonged.
However, Serpentor was slain in a civil uprising with in Cobra's ranks, and later Mindbender died after being abandoned to a slow death by Cobra Commander.
But years later, Cobra Commander brought Mindbender back using the same cloning technology for some odd reason. And Mindbender was once again his loyal servant, but for his own benefit. The memory of contempt and his first death were still there, held within the very strands of DNA from the original Mindbender. When Cobra faded from the World's stage for a time, Mindbender wisely used that time to establish his special cloning laboratories in secretive places all over the World—for the sole purpose of re-growing another him in the event of another fatal demise. With every convenience possible with in them, and isolated from each other, there would be no way to find and destroy them all.
For when Cobra returned, he returned with it until siding against Cobra Commander with a recreated Serpentor. And once again defeated in another internal struggle that eventually cost them both their lives.
Mindbender couldn't recall the exact details, but once formed and born he did intend to look it up. Cobra Commander always personally put his 'victories' down in the official record. It would be interesting to see how much gloss would be added to the record of his second demise.
The fluid was moving faster in the chamber, brushing over silkenly over newly formed skin—time in incubation was coming to an end. In preperation, Mindbender flexed his limbs and muscles gently at first then much more rapidly with increasing vigor, often hitting the chamber walls. There was no danger of the glass shattering from such; it was thick enough to stop a high-powered bullet. No, the real danger will come in the change from breathing oxygenated liquid to actual air. All of the fluid had to clear the lungs before that first intake of real air, or otherwise he'd choke to death on the very thing that kept him alive for this long.
Now it started draining, through the vents he was standing over. He could feel the top of his bald head quickly emerging into the cool air being pumped into the chamber from above when he took that one last deep inhalation of liquid, holding it until he could feel the level pass his lips before forcing it all from his lungs in one forceful push. A quick gulp of air caused him to choke up the rest, but the trauma passed quickly--and as the last of the liquid drained past his feet, Mindbender was breathing deeply without any trouble.
When the glass rose, he stepped eagerly into the lab.