After Captain America fell into the ice, and any hope of retrieving Dr. Erskine's formula was lost, many sought out to recreate the famed formula. Who could forget the efforts of Bruce Banner? Or Howard Stark, who unwittingly helped make a super team of HYDRA-The Nazi Science division-agents? But one scientist, Dr. James Mondall has been removed from the history books altogether, for his creation of a monster found in only the deepest of the S.H.I.E.L.D Files, The Mechanical Mayhem.
When James Mondall heard that Captain America had gone missing, he dedicated his life to creating the perfect soldier, but rather than attempt to create the perfect human soldier, he decided an Android would be much better. For Mondall believed that the only advantage humans had over robots was the adaptability of the human, so what if he built an android with the adaptability of a human. Some kind of robot that could blend in with society, but when needed, he could fight with the ferocity of ten men.
And so it began, Mondall spent two years creating a machine that could fight like a tornado, and when the machine was finished, it looked like something straight out of a comic book, six feet tall, four arms, two of which could retract in order to blend in, two legs, and covered in a skin look-alike that made him appear to be human, in truth however, the android was entirely made of a metal that Mondall had discovered on his own, a metal called Krodium, flexible but solid, the metal would allow his android to shape his body into whatever he wished. As Mondall stepped back to admire his creation, the name popped into his head, a name worthy of this monster of a fighter. "The Mechanical Mayhem" the doctor said, out of breath "What a magnificent creation. Now to code it." but as soon as Mondall began to code The Mechanical Mayhem, "Mayhem" for short, he hit a wall. He couldn't figure out how to give Mayhem adaptability, short of discovering some form of artificial intelligence, he just couldn't do it.
At this time, the Cold War had begun, meaning the US government became desperate to find any form of fighting the USSR, so the government began to round up all the scientists they could find in the hopes they had some way of protecting the country from the USSR. Mondall, of course, was chosen for his work on the Mechanical Mayhem. However, he refused to hand Mayhem over to the government, "He has not been coded yet, without the code, he is a lump of metal." Mondall told the government officials. Yet the officials became suspicious of his method of coding. So they broke into his house in the middle of the day to figure out what was going on.
They could not have come in at a worse time, Mondall had just hooked up all the machinery, and the process was nearly complete, he was planning to put his brain into Mayhem's to give Mayhem the adaptability of a human. Mondall had flipped the switch just as the officials burst into the room, the officials could do nothing. As Mondall's shell of a body collapsed to the floor, dead, Mayhem opened his eyes for the first time, right before he fell to the ground after being tased by one of the officials.
When Mayhem opened his eyes for the SECOND time, he was strapped to a chair in a room that was completely barren, besides a door and a window that was only large enough to let light out, certainly not him. His mind felt fuzzy, what had happened? All he could remember was opening his eyes, and that was it. His memory was a blank page, a busted book, a cheese with too much swiss. But he did notice he was in a place designed to hold prisoners. And then, the door opened and a tall man with sharp eyes, a much too large grin on his face, and a military outfit of a major with a rocket launcher strapped to his back walked in. "Good morning!" he said in a voice that would not have been out of place at an insane asylum, "I trust you have been sleeping well, Mondall." The man was not oblivious to the android's confusion "Oh, do you not remember? I guess the brain transfer came with memory loss, here, let me help. '' He said as he stuck out his hand to touch the android's head. Mayhem studied his hand as it reached forward, what he thought was simple body hair was really small bolts of lightning dancing across the man's hand, and on further examination, the man's entire body was covered in the small moving bolts of lightning . Mayhem jumped- or more accurately, scooched the chair- back. "Don't worry Mondall, this'll splash some cold water in your face, well, more like hot lightning." the man said as he touched Mayhem's head.
Pain. Pain Pain Pain was all Mayhem felt, but with the pain, he felt his memory coming back, he remembered everything, even things Mondall most likely wouldn't remember if he was still in his own body, he remembered his family, his work for HYDRA during WW2, he even remembered the man's name, his name was Axel, Axel Faraday, his Sargent when he fought for HYDRA, last he knew, Axel had fled to Russia when the Red Skull vanished from the face of the earth. Then the pain subsided. "Well well well." Axel said as he took his hand off Mayhem's head, "Now you remember, Mondall?" Strangely, even though it was his name, hearing himself being called that sickened him."Yes" responded Mayhem, surprised how his voice sounded so metallic. "I remember you Axel, you were a good Sargent, never letting anyone give up, fighting until the last man." Axel's face scrunched up in disgust when he heard his name. "Don't call me Axel, Mondall, I have dropped that name and taken on a new one, Major Faraday, Leader of the Russian HYDRA!... What are you laughing at!" He said to Mondall, who after being told Major Faraday was the leader of the Russian HYDRA, he burst out laughing, "You?" said Mayhem, his eyes full of tears "You must have been the LEAST likely person to become the head of the Russian HYDRA, you abandoned HYDRA in its hour of need! Besides, HYDRA has fallen, it fell as soon as Zola was captured and the Red Skull disappeared!" "Ah, not so, my old friend" replied Faraday, "Here, come with me, but before we leave, I must do this" He placed his hand on Mayhem's head again, but Mayhem only felt a small jolt of electricity. Then the Major snapped and the ropes holding Mayhem in place fell away. Mayhem started to lunge towards the Major, but just as he started to, Faraday put out his hand, and all of a sudden, hundreds of bolts of electricity came out from Mayhem's chest towards the Majors hand, Mayhem collapsed to the floor in a heap, just barely able to keep his eyes opened. "And now you have learned of my full power, the ability to power electrical equipment, with enough volts to supercharge it, or fry it, but any electricity I put in something replaces the rest of the electricity, and then I can remove that electricity and give it to myself. Which is what I did, I removed your electricity." Mayhem was beginning to black out, he could barely focus. "Now, we can't have you passing out, you haven't taken the tour yet!" And the Major reached forward and touched Mayhem's head once more.
"Now this is our laboratory" said Faraday as Mayhem walked behind him with a sour expression on his face "this is where we try and train the powered people we collect so they work in our favor, now unfortunately, we can have some cases that won't "comply" with us, so we have to use a different method!" Just then a door burst open and a man whose entire body was covered in clocks. "No! No! You can't do this to me! I'm The Timelord! I cannot lose!" screamed the man who called himself The Timelord as he was dragged into a room that was heavily guarded by many guards. After a few minutes, the "Timelord" walked back out and Major Faraday asked him "Are you ready to comply?" "I'm happy to comply." said the man with a blank expression on his face. "And that's the magic of it" said the Major, turning back to Mayhem. "We can make anyone comply, given enough time, in fact, you're going to be next, won't that be great?" And that was when Mayhem fully realized what was happening, he would be made into the perfect soldier, just as James had been made into the perfect scientist by HYDRA. "And before you get any ideas, I will personally watch you get stuck in the chair, so no escape plans for you!" Stated The Major, for he was not oblivious to the gleam showing in Mayhem's eyes. But, as Mayhem was led into the room where so many had lost their will to HYDRA and Faraday, he realized one last way he could get out of this, but it would all depend on how well he knew his powers. The room was all black, save for one wall, which was a screen of pictures moving incredibly fast. The screen was plugged into an outlet in the wall, the only one in the room. He was strapped into a chair made of solid steel, and the ropes seemed tough, but not indestructible. He also noticed there were only two guards, both of whom were covered in a rubber suit, most likely built in case Faraday's powers went haywire. "Now," said The Major as Mayhem was strapped into the chair. "Do you have any last words as a free man, Mondall?" "Don't-" said Mayhem "Don't WHAT, Mondall?" replied the Major "DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Screamed Mayhem. His vision turned red, and he felt something click inside. Mayhem looked at his hands, they were shifting from pink to solid grey, he was shifting from human to monster. With one swift movement, his new arms popping out ripped the ropes off him. Mayhem extended his arms and slammed his hands into the two guards, knocking them out. He turned his head toward The Major, who surprisingly looked unfazed, "You forget I can take your power in one touch." He said with a bored expression on his face, as if he had done this before. "But that's where you're wrong Axel!" Mayhem said, reaching for one of the unconscious guards who was wearing a rubber suit. He grabbed it and began to slip his arms through the arm holes. He would only be able to use two of his arms, but that would be a fair price to pay for protection. Within seconds, he had managed to fit his body in the suit. "You can only take my energy if it's exposed metal you're touching!" yelled Mayhem, and with that, he charged at The Major full force. In response, The Major pulled out a rocket launcher, and judging by the sparks flying all over it, he had just supercharged the weapon. "I was hoping you'd let us hypnotize you willingly, but I see you need subduing before you are ready to comply!" and with that he shot what was probably one of the deadliest rockets in the world. Mayhem realized what he had to do, and with one swift move, he ripped the rubber off of his hands and held his hands up, palms out.
What the Major hadn't realized is when he boosted Mayhem's memory, Mayhem remembered how he was made, including what powers Mondall had given him, one of which was the ability to absorb metal, turn it into Krodium, and shape the Krodium into weapons. When Mayhem opened his eyes, there were no scorch marks, no explosion, just Major Faraday with a confused expression on his face. Quickly, Mayhem grabbed the steel chair, absorbed it, and used the new Krodium to make a sword, and with the sword swinging he ran at the major and knocked him to the floor. "Now now, let's not be hasty, how about we talk it out?" Faraday said "We can work together, and you won't kill me?" "You may have been a good sergeant, AXEL, but you always were a coward, you may have fought until the last man, but YOU were never doing the fighting, always someone else." Mayhem said with a fury in his eyes. "Now, any last words?" "Yes, actually," said Axel, who all of a sudden had a wicked gleam on his face. "You shouldn't have gotten this close to me." And with that Axel reached up and grabbed Mayhem's exposed hand.
He felt the jolt of electricity go into him, and even though he had felt the drain before, it did not help, all Mayhem's electricity, save for a small amount, flew into The Major, and Mayhem collapsed to the ground. Faraday stood up, dusted himself off, and looked at Mayhem's body on the ground. "You know, I had a feeling we wouldn't be able to make you comply, that you would figure out to break it or wouldn't even get hypnotized in the first place. Now I could kill you right now, but you would probably be able to stop me then, so I will leave you here to rot, and if you manage to escape, I will not try to capture you again. Ta ta!" and with that he walked out the door, dragging the unconscious guards behind him.
Mayhem's head was beginning to get foggy, he couldn't black out, not now, but maybe he could just close his eyes for a couple minutes… NO! He must get to the outlet on the wall! With all his remaining strength, Mayhem dragged himself up to the wall outlet, morphed his hand into a plug, and stuck it into the wall, just before he blacked out.
When his eyes opened up again, Mayhem was in a cage, nothing holding him down, just the bars of a cage. The cage had multiple scientists walking around it. "HEY!" yelled Mayhem "We had a deal Axel! I'm going to rip you apart!" "Relax, whoever you are." Said a female voice from outside the cage "Major Faraday unfortunately escaped, but his minions were captured and all the powered people in his possession have had the hypnosis removed." Mayhem got up, and stared at the voice. A female walked forward, Mayhem instantly recognized her as Peggy Carter, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Director Carter, it's a pleasure to meet you." "You recognize me, but I do not recognize you. Who are you?" Said Ms. Carter "My name is The Mechanical Mayhem, given to me by my creator, James Mondall, who decided to rather than create a super serum after Steve Rogers fell in the ice, decided to create a robot with the adaptability of a human, and in order to do so, he put his brain and memories into me." "Well that makes sense," Said Ms. Carter, who's expression changed slightly after hearing Steve's name "The government sent some officials to Mondall's house, but they never reported back, and we found them working there when we raided Axel's base." "Well, if it's all the same to you," replied Mayhem, "I'd like to get home, and try to go back to a normal life." "Well, I'm afraid that's impossible, Mr. Mechanical Mayhem" stated Ms. Carter "Just Mayhem" Mayhem replied, "Also, excuse me, what! I can't go back to a normal life?" "As you may have noticed, you are no longer Dr. Mondall, as such, we cannot give you his identity," replied Ms. Carter "We can create a new identity for you, but… "There's always a but, isn't there?" Mayhem cut in "but we will have to keep you on standby should the U.S. become threatened by a force we cannot stop." replied Ms. Carter "And if I say no?" Asked Mayhem "We will take you apart and use you for scrap," stated Ms Carter bluntly "now, I don't doubt you can escape, so we have lined the cage with a material that simulates Major Faraday's power drainer." Mayhem thought long and hard about it. "Fine" he replied "I'll be your little superhero, but I will only fight powered people, I will not be an assassin in this war." "Great!" replied Ms. Carter "Now, let's get you out of there." and with that she walked to the cage, grabbed a bar, ripped it off and ripped it in half like it was felt, and as Mayhem looked at his surroundings more closely, he realized the entire cage was really made of cloth. "You tricked me!" yelled Mayhem, his eyes flickering red "A simple tactic to get you to see our way." replied Ms. Carter "Now, you can stay at our safe house in Vermont, with a phone that will let you know when we need your assistance" she handed him a drivers license and passport, "and now, goodbye" she pulled out a big laser-like cannon and pressed the trigger, and Mayhem felt the familiar power drain. "You little-" said Mayhem as his eyes closed.