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By Barry Reese
Stan Lee Presents : The greatest heroes of the post World War II era...Captain America, Sentinel of Liberty...The Whizzer, Fastest Man Alive...Miss America, Strong and Beautiful Heroine...Sub-Mariner, Prince of Atlantis...and the Human Torch, the fiery android...they are The All-Winners Squad!
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Meanwhile, back on earth : Inside the home of Joshua Williams, a furious battle unfolds.
The mighty Sub-Mariner, the avenging prince of Atlantis, grappled with one of the three Flexos that had just burst into the house and slew the creator of the original Flexo. Namor backhanded one of the rubbery androids, his blow bouncing back off its rubber housing. He grunted, the bloodlust of a warrior beginning to overtake him. He and the Torches had arrived here in upstate New Jersey to investigate how and why their old Liberator teammate Flexo the Rubber Man had turned to crime. Now, with Josh Williams lying smoking on the floor, Namor felt more than ever that the surface dwellers were all madmen, content to waste away their lives with petty conflicts. Letting out a cry of vengeance, he placed his mighty sea-born hands around the throats of the robot. Grunting, the veins on his arms standing out, he applied enough pressure until the grinning head of the robot popped off, landing with a thud on the floor. Reddish-purple ooze gushed out over Namor's arms. He tossed aside the robot, watching with an arched eyebrow as the robot began dissolving into sludge.
Meanwhile, the Human Torch and his young partner Toro confronted their own Flexos, whose powerful death rays had all ready decimated and set aflame the living room. "Toro, try to absorb some of those flames -- we don't want this house to become an inferno. Besides, you know what that kind of heat would do to Namor --"
"Gotcha, Torch!"
"Now, looks like you two want to tango with me, eh? Well you chose the wrong android to pick a fight with, Flexo. Flame on!" The Torch ignited and he began pelting the two robots with fireballs. He wondered if one of these were the real Flexo...he'd always thought the robot had a spark of personality in him, though others in the Liberators had disagreed. The Torch flinched inwardly -- could some madman turn him against his friends, like someone had done with Flexo? Was he that much different from this robot?
The Torch flew upwards, dodging one of the Flexo's powerful new death rays and flooded the robot with a full-force fire discharge, slowly melting the robot. Meanwhile, the other Flexo had moved into position to strike at the hero from behind...
Suddenly the red and white shield of Captain America struck the robot from behind, throwing him forward into the flames. The shield riccocheted off the walls smoothly and returned to the hand that threw it.
For a moment, the Torch thought that it was Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes standing in the doorway -- the very model of heroism. But when this Cap spoke, the Torch realized that it was not his old ally, but rather the second man to be known as Captain America -- William Nausland.
"Looks like Bucky and I arrived just in time..."
While his mentor greeted the others, Fred Davis -- Bucky II -- moved over to speak with Toro. "What happened to him?" Bucky gestured towards the body of Josh Williams.
"One of the Flexos killed him with some sort of death ray. I didn't even know Flexo could do that. 'Course Miss America radioed us and said that somebody had really improved those robots."
"Yeah, wish we could have had an army of these things back during the war. Hitler would have been on the run then, that's for sure. Too bad about Josh though..." Bucky looked back at Toro. "The Vision brought us here, after showing us some spooky stuff -- he always was weird but --"
Captain America's voice silenced them. "Hush, boys. It looks like we might have found ourselves a Flexo factory..." The boys looked out the window and saw what the Sentinel of Liberty was pointing at. The hill behind the Williams home had a door -- an open door, with a red Flexo standing outside, as if inviting the All-Winners Squad inside.
"Looks like whomever's behind this is ready to face the music...Let's go."
A sudden gush of wind ruffled the curtains as the Whizzer arrived, the lovely Madeline Joyce (Miss America) in his arms. "Hold on there, Cap. We should greet this character in style -- and now that Miss America and I are here, we've got a full complement. Let's show this creep what happens when you mess with the All-Winners!"
Elsewhere : The man known only as Schmidt opened his eyes, staring into the inky blackness of his small room. He could feel the presence of another, hear their breathing. His senses were three times as attuned as a normal man's -- which had served him in good stead as Agent Axis during the war. In the weeks since the CIA had smuggled him into the country to turn over his secrets*, he had waited for reprisals from other Nazis and now...
[ See Marvel Comics Presents # 34 for the full story on how Agent Axis came to the U.S. -- Know-it-all Barry]
"Who is there?" His hand crept under his pillow for his revolver, but before he was even touching it, a hand was holding him down.
The light flared on and Schmidt found himself surrounded by U-Man, the turncoat Atlantean; Warrior Woman -- the pride of the Third Reich; the Asbestos Lady -- a small-time criminal and foe of the Human Torch; and the man who held his arm, who was wearing a black variant on the Whizzer's costume, with a bright yellow W across his chest.
It was the man in the Whizzer costume who spoke first, his chilling smile informing Schmidt that his days in retirement were numbered. "You are Agent Axis, correct? Don't bother answering -- we know. You're being recruited, Herr Schmidt. Recruited to join the very antithesis of the hated All-Winners Squad...your skills will be very useful to us."
Axis set his jaw, unafraid even now. "Who are you to speak to me so?"
The man relaxed his grip and laughed, drawing smiles from the villains behind him. "My real name is unimportant, but you may call me Black Whizzer -- the founder and leader of the All-Villains Squad...and your new boss."
Meanwhile, back in New Jersey : Baron Zemo paced in his office, his heart racing. His ultimate test of the Flexo Army was now here...soon, the All-Winners Squad would provide the ultimate challenge. He only wished that the real Captain America was present and not this charlatan -- but, oh the memory of his foe's death was still so sweet in his mind!
"Zemo, the energy drain on these robots is what's killing them. Your 'improvements' have cut their life span to under 48 hours, even less now that you're outfitting them with this death ray repulsor. Your dream of a perfect army is doomed to failure -- you've wasted my time and my brother's time.The original Flexo was a one-of-a-kind. He can't be duplicated. The United States army tried repeatedly during the war*, but they always failed. Let us go." Joel Williams stood in the doorway of the office, his voice tinged with fear, but also with defiance. The original Flexo stood silently against the wall behind him.
* - [see Liberators # 1 for evidence of the U.S. government's attempts at this -- footnote loving Barry]
"You speak bravely, Herr Williams. But I am afraid your brother is no longer with us...and if you are telling the truth about these robots...well, then you are no longer needed either."
Joel's mouth dropped. "What do you -- you killed him? You nazi Bastard!" Joel Williams, always the scientist and dreamer -- lost his sanity for the moment, rushing at the red-masked villain, his fist raised. But Zemo was quicker, drawing his blaster and ending the life of the American.
"Fool. None may challenge Zemo! If you are right, if this plan does fail, I have already made arrangements to travel to South America -- where I will be far away from meddling whiners like yourself, Herr Williams. But I still have hopes that this day may yet be mine..."
Unbeknownst to the Nazi villain, the original Flexo's head had turned slightly, staring coldly at the body of his creator. When not being controlled by the remote that his inventors had devised, Flexo had a limited sense of self-autonomy. He glanced up at Zemo, who had begun deploying his robot army from his control station. Flexo's cold, heartless smile seemed to droop slightly...
The Sub-Mariner led the way inside, his compatriots following close behind. The inside of the hill was lined with metal and the shiny surface made things gleam and shimmer. "By my crown..." muttered Namor, looking down from the railing to see a large laboratory, lined with nearly two dozen Flexos. "It appears that we have found the lair of our foe, Squadders."
Miss America nodded. "I'll say...looks like someone had big plans -- look, there are machines making more of them even now."
"Well I'll search the place at superspeed -- maybe I can even nab this crook before the rest of you blink!"
Just then an electronically filtered voice interrupted the Whizzer's boasting, transmitted to them via loudspeakers. "Welcome, old foes, to the dawning of a new age. One in which the mechanical warriors you see before you will wage war in the name of their human overseers..." On cue, the robots on the assembly lines and the ones lined up on the wall begin to awaken, their smiling faces looking up at the Squad. "I fear that there is no place in my new order for such as you. You shall have to be eliminated -- but fear not, your deaths shall not be in vain. You are a test run, you see, for my ultimate army of Flexos!"
A dozen rays of powerful force were issued from the Flexos then, as the other robots took to the air to close ground with the heroes.
Captain America stood tall, raising his shield. "To arms, Squadders! Whoever's behind this needs to be taken down a peg!"
The Human Torch and Toro both smiled, whispering their mantra "Flame On!" A second later they were aborn, already hurling fireballs at the flying robot warriors. Prince Namor of Atlantis uttered a loud "Imperius Rex" and launched himself into the sea of Flexos on the ground floor.
The Whizzer winked at Miss America and muttered "Old foe, huh? Looks like it's one of our old Liberators villains, honey. Wanna show 'em what we're made of?"
"Gladly, Mr. Frank." With that, she lept into the air, striking a Flexo in the chest, grunting as her fists met the hard rubberized body.
Captain America and Bucky watched their teammates spring into action before making their own moves. Cap took careful aim with his shield, wondering not for the first time if he would ever feel truly comfortable with the thing, and then hurled it into the fray, bouncing it off one robot and then another. The shield clattered to the floor. "Damn, " he muttered, "Steve Rogers would have nailed four of them and had it flying back to himself...Oh well, have to do it the hard way!"
Cap and Bucky jumped into the fray, Bucky yelling "Geronimo!"
The Torch had melted almost a half dozen of the robots but he could see Bucky and Cap being pulled under the tide of robots. "We'll never be able to defeat them all," he thought. "Their death rays are even hurting Namor and he's the toughest of us all - though I'd never admit that to him. But we're not going down without a fight, I guarantee that..."
The Whizzer raced through the crowd, his blows pitifully ineffective against the robots. He zoomed by Bucky, pulling him out from under a mass of Flexos. Fred's face was bruised and a beaut of a shiner was beginning to appear. He dropped Bucky off on a nearby bench. "Take a breather, Fred. I'll pick up the slack."
Elsewhere, Baron Zemo cackled. He watched on the monitor as Miss America destroyed two of the Flexos, only to find herself faced the death rays of three more. Behind him, the original Flexo moved towards him. "Such ease....mein fuehrer should have stolen the plans for this Flexo years ago -- perhaps the war would have gone differently. The lands would have turned red with the blood of Liberators!"
Suddenly Flexo lunged for Zemo, bringing his hands to bear on Zemo's throat, crushing with all his strength. The Nazi, still too surprised to fight back, was lifted off the ground and hurled to the wall. With a thud he fell to the floor. He glanced up to see Flexo, his rubbery smile still etched on his face approaching.
"Mein gott! You do think after all, don't you? Are you angry with me for slaying your master, is that it? You should have learned your lesson from him, automaton - no one dares threaten Zemo!" The villain pulled forth the remote control and pointed it at Flexo. "Now, stop where you are before I melt you to slag!"
Flexo paused, his rubbery body tense and quivering. Then with an effort he drug himself forward, slowly but surely.
Zemo pressed the remote harder. "No! This cannot be! You will yield to me! You must!"
Slowly the robot continued to move closer, raising his arms, readying to seek vengeance...
Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner was the first to hear it - his sensitive ears picking up the rising screams of a man, obviously terrified. They echoed throughout the hidden lair, bringing a pause to the battle -- for even the Flexos recognized the sounds of a man in agony.
Miss America, standing atop a pile of Flexos, murmured. "My god, do you think that could be Joel?"
"I'm gonna find out, that's for sure, Maddy..." The Whizzer zoomed past, following the sounds of struggle. Within seconds, he had skidded to a stop outside an office of some sort. "Now to see what's up--" His eyes noticed the fireball exploding outward from the office a split second before his feet moved. A plume of fire and smoke gushed out as he saw Flexo striking some sort of control panel. The Whizzer outran the fire, running through the melee, grabbing first Madeline, then Bucky. "Mooooooooove itttttttttt!" he yelled, his voice trailing behind him. "This place is gonna blow!"
Captain America bent to retrieve his shield, seeing that it had been bent in the struggle - unlike the original shield, this one was very breakable. Then he saw the spreading flames and electrical apparatus throughout the lab. "Bob's right! Let's move, now!"
Namor swooped down, picking up Cap and flying towards the exit. They were through a second before the base exploded and caved in upon itself.
The All-Winners Squad assembled a safe distance away, watching the billowing smoke. Miss America broke the silence. "Amazing. It's going to end without us ever even finding out who was behind it all? That's not the way it's supposed to be..."
William Nausland pulled back his mask, revealing his handsome face and he nodded. "And two good men died today. I only hope that it was Joel Williams who set that explosion -- maybe he died a hero, like his creation was meant to be." He glanced at Miss America, who was leaning against Bob Frank. "And I promise that if the madman behind this did survive, we'll make him pay, Maddy. You have my word on that..."
Next Issue : The All-Villains Squad! More mysterious words of warning from the Vision! And baseball, baseball, baseball!
ALL-WINNING LETTERS
This issue wraps up the first storyline and as you can see, it didn't end all that happily. Zemo was right about one thing -- it is a whole new era for the All-Winners Squad. After the depressing nature of our first story, we'll lighten it up a lot in issue four. Have you ever wanted to see Namor on a baseball field? It'll be fun! Also, the All-Villains Squad launches its campaign against the heroes and I promise -- not one single death in the next storyline. :)
As for lingering questions from this one...well, of course, Zemo survived. I believe he next appears (chronologically at least) in Thunderbolts # -1 (the Flashback Month issue). As for poor Mrs. Joel Williams...well, I'm not gonna forget her, I promise. This widow pops up next issue and will be a supporting character for quite awhile. As for Flexo's survival -- it doesn't look too good, but who knows? If Zemo made it, maybe the big rubber guy did too.
See you all next issue.
Barry Reese
c_r6196@hotmail.com
