The Headmen vs The World! FOR SCIENCE! Chapter three

The Headmen once fought The Defenders as a part of their scheme to take over the world with little violence, behind the scenes, as powers behind all the thrones of the Earth. They failed, but they failed SPECTACULARLY! Can these complex schemers and manipulators organize a second attempt, or will other world-conquerors such as HYDRA, AIM, THE YELLOW CLAW and ZODIAC beat them to it? And if those are your choices, you'd better hope The Headmen conquer Earth first!

Authors note this takes place roughly 3 years before the events of POWER MAN AND IRON FIST #111 (1984), and the events of my WHO IS CAPTAIN HERO? Fan-fic and a few months after THE DEFENDERS ANNUAL #1(1976) Hey, comic book time gets confusing.

For the time being, the Headmen and a few trusted assistants we operating out of a mansion in Southampton, Long Island. The beachfront property was owned by a rather well known real estate billionaire. Their patron used it as a "Summer House" every July and August and had offered it to the Headmen for the remaining ten months. As the four renegade geniuses had doubled their landlord's personal fortune in the past year with their advice, it was a very beneficial arrangement all around. Ruby had dealt with Kenneth Krask for some time , and in fact in a roundabout way Ruby owed his father, Kronin Krask a great deal.

Kronin Krask had created the Krask fortune two decades before, and was diagnosed with a fatal illness while still in his early forties. Deciding that being rich meant he didn't have to follow the rules, he set about to use science to cheat death. Hiring mercenaries, he kidnapped pioneering neurologist and cyberneticist Dr. Wagnastein and his protégé Dr. Jim North. Using their so called "ultra-oscilloscope" it was possible to copy and transfer the entire consciousness and brain patterns from one body to another permanently, in effect exchanging their brains without surgery. If Kronin had been content with ANY new body, he would have succeeded and would still be alive today in one body or another. (Thor #172

Unfortunately Kronin Krask had always been bigger than life and wanted to stay that way. His men managed to capture Thor, the God of Thunder and the attempt was made to elevate Kronin Krask to Godhood. As happens whenever one involves one of the Avengers in a scheme, the plan fell apart. Krask's sons inherited the family fortune, and several years later the Headmen began working as Kevin and Kenneth's private advisors.

Ruby cycled the malleable organic circuitry that composed her head and stored her consciousness through several favorite faces, deciding which to wear for the evening meeting with her companions. Kronin Krask had forced Wagnastein and North to perfect their mind-swapping technology, and she had based her own brain-copying machinery off of their work.

She entered the dining hall, wearing the face of Scarlett Johansen (a current favorite, and sat at the head of the table, nodding to the house servant indicating she was ready for wine and appetizers. She was thankful that Doctors Joel and Joshua Williams, inventors of the 1940s robot Flexo had devised the material that composed her head. She would have missed having a sense of taste, and the Williams brothers had found a substance that could mimic any sensory input as needed. (Mystic Comics #1)

Arthur Nagan was sitting at the far end of the table, picking at several large fruit platters and drinking periodically from a large tankard. Due to an accident with an automated head transplant surgical robot, an anti-rejection serum and several rebellious low land gorillas, Nagan's head had been affixed to the body of a 600 pound gorilla beringei graueri. Ruby and Arthur had worked out plans to move Arthur's mind into a clone of his original body years ago, but he still enjoyed the agility and strength that he had happened into. (Mystery Tales #21)

Jerry Morgan, one of the top biochemical researchers in the world before his own lab accident caused him to retire from public view, sat at the right side of Nagan, picking at his plate, He had created his cellular compression gas years before Hank Pym and his size-changing "Pym Particle" had come along. Due to an early accident, he had somehow managed to shrink his skeleton, muscles and internal organs to 5' 7" while keeping the outer skin of a man of 5'11". The sagging skin was frankly disturbing, and Ruby had offered several times to help Jerry even things out. "It reminds me to be more careful," was his usual reply. (World of Fantasy #11)

Last to arrive as usual, Chondu the Mystic, also known as Harvey Schlemerman, entered with a half-bow as though he was back on stage doing his magic act for carnival rubes. "May the stars align over us, and guide us to victory," he intoned. Once a showman, always a showman Ruby thought. "Helen, see if Michael has any of that lobster bisque left from last night please. He outdid himself with it, and if you can find a decent white wine, I'll ask the Vishanti to bless you eternally."

The maid hustled out of the room towards the kitchen, as Harvey leaned in towards his partners. "OK, today was a disappointment, we can all agree. Hugh Jones would have been a good recruit for the rich and famous. But look on the bright side, HYDRA kidnapped him before we invested more than a couple of days and the price of a few meals in the man. Who else might be a good candidate to sell Jerry's addictive youth potion?"

"Technically it's not addictive, it just needs continual booster shots," Jerry remarked, then sipping some wine. "I actually could add something I have in mind, to make the test subject feel very anxious after a certain time. I intended it to add to the secret sauce at the Burger Frog chain to boost return sales…"

"Interesting, does it have any side effects though? It wouldn't do to poison customers," Arthur interrupted. "If all the people who eat at Burger Frog suddenly developed kidney failure we would lose a good revenue stream and attract some attention."

Jerry shook his head, sending his loose skin into a disturbing sloshing motion. "Actually it started out as a cholesterol and triglyceride reducing drug that caused withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking it. It passes in a few days, just heightens anxiety and restlessness. It actually makes the menu at Burger Frog BETTER for you than most fast food. You just will find yourself conditioned to have at least one Ribbet-Riblet every three or four days. If I can fix the addictive issue, the same compound could legitimately earn us billions."

"Interesting ideas, Jerry. Move ahead on it as a food additive, let me take a look at the formula later. I may be able to help turn it into something that our pharmaceutical people can market. Now anyone have ideas for a replacement for Hugh Jones in our plan?"

Several members of the global rich and famous were discussed and discarded, until the right balance of fame, social connections and vulnerability to persuasion was settled upon. Discussions of various revenue streams followed, companies that were covertly owned or controlled by the Headmen, and useful sources of information within numerous governments and spy agencies. As dessert was being served, Ruby had found the right way to express her frustrations about the days events.

She stood suddenly, placed both hands on the table, and shouted.

"#% *&%! #$ %#%$## #$$%$# #$$#%$# #$%#% $#$ $&&&%& &$#%$##%&&& &!"

Her three partners sat stunned.

"We have been at this for years, and we make progress HERE but then get knocked back down THERE and I am SICK OF IT!"

Jerry Morgan was the first to work up the courage to reply. "What exactly is the…"

"$$%$# -ing HYDRA! And all the other lunitics out there trying to knock over the planet as if it was just another bank to rob! It puts our whole method of operations into jeopardy!"

Arthur was about to interrupt but saw a "hush" gesture from Harvey and held his tongue. After all, what was the point of having a psychic in the room if you ignored his advice?

"When I met you three, your plan was a good one. Use our knowledge to ally ourselves with the people who ALREADY run the world, solve the problems for them no one else could even IMAGINE a way to do it. We didn't want to sit on the Throne, we were going to be the people BEHIND the throne! We would have all the power and none of the responsibility! We could have really done it!"

Harvey reached across the table to refill his glass of wine and then Ruby's glass. "What do you feel we are doing wrong?"

"WE are the only ones doing anything RIGHT!" she fumed, banging on the table. "The idiots currently in charge of this crapsack world are too STUPID to follow our BEST PLANS… They just do enough of what we want to keep themselves propped up on the top of the heap! Jerry, you've had plans to address climate change, peak oil, air and ocean pollution for years, sitting on the shelf! Every time we try to implement them, what happens?"

Jerry nodded. "Roxxon sabotaged three different factories, Someone with better brainwashing technology than ours got the UN committee to come out AGAINST clean air and water…"

"EXACTLY! Harvey, your experiments to improve critical thinking and raise general intelligence across the board with education reform? It tested great in Finland, what happened when we tried to move it across five continents?"

"It went smoothly implementing it in China, Japan and Singapore, but we were blocked out from North and South America, every ally we needed turned out to be already owned securely by either HYDRA or that group we think the Kree are behind."

"Too many players in the field trying to knock over everything and WE are the ones trying to hold it all up and make it actually WORK better! But do WE get any help? NO! We get SHIELD, The Avengers, Dr. Strange and HIS buddies messing up what we do as well!"

"I think I hear what you are saying," Harvey said in his most soothing voice. "You feel the people we are supporting aren't cooperating enough. The enemies of the people we support are getting in the way of most of what we CAN do. And the enemies of our enemies are getting in our way too, SHIELD doesn't treat us any differently than they do HYDRA for example. Is that pretty much what you mean?"

"YES!" Ruby flopped back into her chair and reached for her wine glass. "We are four of the most intelligent people alive, and we have so many STUPID people interfering!"

"I understand. I feel the same. And it's not as if we are trying to make things WORSE…." Jerry Morgan stood to stretch, then paced back and forth across the dining room as he spoke. "I admit, we cut some corners. We have experimented on people without asking them first a few times. But we got the people who REALLY run things to agree to our big experiments first. It's not like we're Dr. Doom and his one man invasion of Planet Earth. We were practically doing official work!"

Arthur Nagan lit a cigar and roced back in his chair. "That's true. Our experiment in India and Washington DC ? When I was approached originally by that group from the United Nations, their idea was for us to devise a pandemic, to wipe out roughly %85 of the world population. If they hadn't come to us, someone else would have tried THAT stupid idea to solve the "too many people, not enough stuff" problem." (Defenders I annual #1)

Jerry stopped pacing and stood near the window. "My best work yet. I shrank the whole White House and everyone in it to the size of a dollhouse, to prove a government could function even if it was led by a half inch tall President. I found a way to shrink the ENTIRE POPULATION OF NEW DEHLI! TO THE SIZE OF ANTS! Let's see that patent thief Hank "Jackass" Pym try that one! World hunger? Gone! The population of Africa could be fed with a thousand acres of farmland and ten tractors!"

Harvey nodded. "You're right. It would have solved a lot of problems, and it was a lot better than what the idiots in charge originally planned. There is a very good chance if we hadn't taken that job, about 6 billion human beings could have died. But we don't get credit for that, and I know that bugs all of us. But what can we do about it?" Harvey, using his theatrical CHONDU THE MYSTIC voice to the best effect, commanded their full attention.

"We have a problem, and the four of us can't find a solution. But I have an idea. And if we all can polish the rough edges off of it, it's a pretty good one."

END OF CHAPTER THREE

I took time off from writing, to do 2 years' worth of grad school in just one year. I had no time to sleep much less write. If you're finding me again, sorry for the break. If you JUST found me, I'll update my OTHER story soon and try to keep to a chapter a week on both.

BTW all my stories are love letters to the Silver age/Bronze age of comics that I grew up with. Back when continuity mattered, characters developed, and everything was being CONstructed, not Deconstructed. I'm using the Marvel Sandbox World and continuity as it existed during SECRET WARS II and ignoring all the stuff from the Mutant Massacre on up. Thanks to the Marvel Appendix crew for helping me remember obscure details from the Marvel Universe as it was from Stan Lee up to the day Jim Shooter was pushed out the door.

Thanks also to THE FANTASTIC FOUR AS THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL for many inspirations.