Issue 5: "The Brain Game"

He steeled his fallen spirit and made a move to once again pick himself up from destruction, but was still unable to move. A quick diagnostic scan showed his systems in disarray. Both arms were separated from his torso and a critical control panel for the lower half of his body was exposed and inoperative. He shifted his head slightly to get a better look as to where his other arm might be located and felt his cranium and jaw drag at wrong angles against the stone floor through the syrupy hydraulic oil. He realized his head had been cracked open as well.

For a brief moment he considered lying there and hoping the damage was severe enough his systems would fail completely in a short time, but he squashed the thought back down. He would never give up. It’s the only thing he knew for sure anymore. He searched his thoughts and tried to remember exactly just what had happened to him…

The Brotherhood were on them before they knew what had happened. Warp was the first one through the swirling portal and fired off several shots from a long, chrome cylinder air-gun. Each shot landed a small device on the members of the Doom Patrol as they tried to rally into action.

Elasti-Girl struck her arm out but instead of it elongating it shivered with spasms. Rita Farr shrieked as the rest of her body shimmered quickly, seemingly trying to shrink and grow at the same time. After long painful seconds her body returned to normal and she collapsed from the shock to her system, trembling and groaning as Warp’s tiny disk beeped cheerfully on the front on her uniform. Negative Man tried to launch his dark energy form but also failed. His entire body flashed with a dull black light and turned into a negative image of itself. “Unh!” All the energy seemed to drain from him as he crumpled to the ground. Catching a brief glimpse at his fallen teammates Robotman gritted his mechanical jaw and attempted a charge but could only manage a stumble forward. His internal systems were in disarray as the disk did its job. “Doc?” he grunted.

Niles Caulder spun in his wheelchair and reached for a control panel to his side but his hand was caught short by a vinyl-sheathed hand that shot out of nowhere. Caulder traced the impossibly long arm back to its source to see a slim woman clad in a tight blue jumpsuit. “Tsk tsk. Zat is not permeeted, mon ami,” taunted Madame Rouge.

The large form of Monsieur Mallah emerged from the artificial wormhole a moment before it closed behind him. The gorilla moved stiffly across the room to set down the metallic encasement of the Brain near the group of fallen heroes. “Very efficient work, Emil,” droned the Brain coldly as Warp grinned smarmily nearby. “Now, poor Mallah, make sure we need not worry about interruptions from Mr. Steele. He always seems to be the troublesome one.”

Mallah’s large shadow fell over Cliff Steele as he struggled to take a defensive stance. Robotman threw a weak punch that the once super-intelligent gorilla caught without effort. Mallah returned the blow successfully knocking the cyborg backward. He followed in with a rain of punches as Cliff Steele’s torso cracked open. Mallah then pulled him up by the arms so that he was face-to-face with his opponent. Something was wrong, thought Cliff. Very wrong. Mallah’s eyes were blank and his face devoid of expression. And instead of his usual garish red beret the primate had only a circuited purple headband situated around the top of his head.

“Something’s wrong… with your pet monkey… Brain. Lights are on… but nobody’s home.” Cliff grunted out.

“Finish him,” The Brain monotoned.

Robotman stifled a yell as the gorilla pulled his arms from their sockets. Mallah scooped up the broken robot and slammed him several times into the wall shattering his artificial cranium as his lighted eyes went dark. Monsieur Mallah stood emotionless over the ruined remains before returning to the side of The Brain.

“Now that your puppets have been taken care of, Niles, I have come here to ask a favor of the world’s only super-surgeon. As you can see Mallah’s accelerated intelligence was more of a strain than his primitive brain could handle, and he is lost to me. Burned out completely. If you would like to keep the rest of your precious Doom Patrol alive I need one simple thing from you - to reunite me with my lover one last time. Permanently.”

Niles Caulder surveyed the scene in his ruined lab and his defeated team, and then looked back to The Brain. “We will need to go upstairs to the medical bay.”

Rita Farr was once a famous starlet. She just knew that she was on the verge of breaking into more serious roles and leaving the screamer flicks behind when the accident occurred. Strange gas from a volcano? What kind of sense does that even make? The Chief later told her that it had been one of his experiments, a way to tap into other dimensions that she had unfortunately happened upon. She had heard him describe it a hundreds times over the years. That she had become dislodged from proper three-dimensional space and could now shift her mass between the folded layers of eleven-dimensional superspace. She could grow and reduce her body as easily as a person could zoom a camera lens in and out by changing her relative position to actual spacetime. Sounds fabulous right? What is a life of movie stardom compared the places she’s been and the adventures she’s had? Rita sighed.

She felt helpless. The team was in danger and even with her extraordinary abilities she couldn’t even protect her own home. Rita saw Larry nearby shifting and struggling as his negative form flickered over him. Then she turned to glare at Warp as he stood nearby talking to Madame Rouge. She shifted her hands uncomfortably in their bindings. If she could just take the disk off her shirt. If she could just be bigger… She defiantly tried to use her powers again only to have them again try to grow and shrink her simultaneously. “Aaaaa!”

Warp snickered. “It’s called a Desynchronizer, dear. Something special the Brain helped me put together. And your powers aren’t going to work as long as it’s on you.” He bent over to pull her chin up with his finger. “It places you slightly out of phase with the world around you and things cease to work as they should. Now be a good girl and be still. It’ll all be over soon.”

Elasti-Girl sank as the two villains turned to watch the procedure in the next room. She looked over to Negative Man again in desperation and caught his attention. Larry Trainor had always been the most steadfast member of the group. He had been infused with a dark energy while test piloting an experimental plane in the upper atmosphere, but where he had once been a young and reckless thrill seeker he was now balanced and maintained a calm sense of certainty and strength. Even in pain and caught between his normal and negative forms she knew he was ready to try something calculated… and crazy.

Cerveau howled and ran at Cliff Steele. The two collided in an exchange of fists and yells. Warp and Rouge stepped from the observation room to move closer to the fight. A moment later Larry Trainor let out a terrible scream as his negative energy blazed. His Desynchronizer burned away and his dark energy form erupted from his body to sideswipe Elasti-Girl before slamming into the back of Madame Rouge. Larry had knocked loose Rita’s disk and she broke her bonds before jumping through the glass window while doubling in size. Chaos erupted as the two teams were let loose on each other in an all out brawl.

Larry’s negative energy form pinged around Rouge as she attempted to counter his attack by shooting her arms out at him like rubber bands. Rita was trying to pin down Warp in frustration as he disappeared and reappeared around her.

Cerveau heaved a powerful fist into Robotman’s chest, knocking him back into a wall. The cyborg shook it off but when we got back to his feet he realized that everything had changed. He was now standing in a dry desert bed, but the sand beneath his feet was purple and the sky above him an odd yellow. “Wha..?” He was surprised at his own voice. It sounded… human? He looked down at his own hands and realized that not only was he human but also not wearing any clothes.

“The astral plane, Robotman. In case you were wondering. A psychic attack here in a mindscape where you are quite powerless.”

Cliff Steele spun around to see Monsieur Cerveau behind him.

“Not only has our intelligence increased by imprinting Mallah’s brain patterns onto my own, but we incorporated… ah, new technology into the dome that houses our brain. Our mental powers are now quite dangerous and formidable.” Cerveau stepped closer to Cliff. “Which is bad news for you.”

Cliff felt telepathic waves bare down on his mind like a huge weight. “Uhhh… s-stop.” He dropped to one knee. Pressure built inside his head and he felt sharp, stabbing pains in his forehead.

“Telepathy. Telekinesis. Genius intelligence. And now incredible physical prowess. Together now we are the perfect specimen! The unevolved man!” Cerveau laughed and hooted like a primate. The sound of it was deafening to Cliff.

There was only one way to fight back. Mento’s helmet was sitting on his head. His REAL head. He knew it. It was there on his robot body back in the real world. If he could activate it. If he could only realize it. He tried to push the pain and noise out of his head. If only for a second…

Cerveau sensed his opponent’s resistance. “Don’t be foolish. You can’t match my power. After all, Cliff Steele. You’re a fighter, not a thinker!”

“Today…” The purple headgear began to materialize on the head of his astral body. “I’m both.” He stood to his feet as he sent a wave of psionic feedback at Cerveau. “Now, get out of my head you damn dirty ape!” Another mental blast followed the first and the surreal landscape faded away.

“Naaah!” Cerveau stumbled back. He wiped a stream of blood from his nose and looked at it. “Brotherhood! It’s time for our departure!”

The others were still locked in quick battle as Niles Caulder looked on. Suddenly Madam Rouge snatched Larry Trainor’s limp body and launched across the room like a slingshot while Warp opened a portal behind them.

Rita rushed to catch Negative Man’s body as Robotman charged after the Brotherhood. They disappeared into the wormhole and Cliff arrived just as it closed. And then all was silent.

Chapter Three: The Big Idea

Rita Farr walked across the small courtyard in the late afternoon rain. She paused in front of the door to the small building. She took a deep breath and opened the door. Immediately a foul smell assaulted her nostrils. She looked around to see a room in complete disarray.

Even in the dim light she could see a pile of dirty dishes covering one table and clothes scattered all over the floor. Another table was overflowing with electronic components and tools with a huge stack of books on one end. There was a rack of devices, computers, and monitors beside it and just beyond was a lump of a man holding his head and reading through a stack of papers. Rita cleared her throat loudly.

Steve Dayton spun around in his chair so fast his Mento helmet slid to one side. “Ah! Rita, dear.” He stood as he straightened his hat. Immediately he became distracted by a small gadget on the opposite desk. He picked it up and eyed it carefully.

“You’ve been wearing it a lot haven’t you?” Rita looked her husband over. His face was rough with stubble and his eyes set in dark circles. He wore a bathrobe sloppily over his Doom Patrol uniform.

“Yes, of course. So much to be done, dear. So, so much.” He walked back to his sitting desk and began to thumb through his papers again.

“There was a break-in today. The Brotherhood of Evil got past our security shield somehow and caught us by surprise. It could have been bad.”

“You don’t say. How odd. Everyone is okay then?” He glanced at her quickly from the corner of his eye.

“The Brain was using mind control technology on Monsieur Mallah. The headband, it was one of yours, Steve. Did… did you make some sort of deal with him?”

Mento set his papers down and gave her his full attention at last. “I…” He stopped. “He had something I needed. I had no idea he would attack the castle.” He looked down as if looking for an answer. “The communications we had. He must have backtracked through the encryption into our computer system. Found the security codes. Rita, I’m so sorr…”

“What was it? What was so important that you’d make a deal our enemies?!”

“It… it was classified. The Brain had obtained a copy somehow. A report at STAR Labs by Ray Palmer. The Atom, you know? He and the Chief have spoken before about your powers. Anyway, he wrote a paper on an experiment he conducted with the Flash where he traveled to another Earth! Another Earth like this one but where the heroes have been around much longer. Rita, it’s the one. I can feel it. Remember me telling you about it?” Steve spoke excitedly but Rita just stared.

“This again? Steve… what…” She sighed. “It’s just a delusion. We live here. Right here and now.”

“No! We don’t!” He rushed to a filing cabinet and opened it in a hurry. “I know it sounds crazy. I’ve seen what they write about us on those message boards. Our cult following? Our fans? They know about all the bizarre adventures we’ve had. They are looking for answers too!” He pulled something out of the drawer and walked back to her. “Don’t you ever wonder why us? Why do all these strange things always happen to us? Don’t you see? We’re anomalies. We aren’t supposed to be here.” He looked at the item in his hand. “Right. I bought this from one of our fans online. He didn’t want to sell it but when he found out who I was…” He put the object in her hand.

“A Doom Patrol comic book?” She stared at him with a lost look.

“No, look. It’s us, Rita. The Doom Patrol, but published back in the 1960s! And I checked it out. It has the same vibrational resonance signature as Dr. Palmer identified in his paper. Don’t you see? This shouldn’t be here either. I’m not sure how it got here but it’s from the other Earth!”

Rita pushed the comic back into Steve’s hands. “It's unusual, yeah, but you realize we have a painting in the castle that eats cities right? I don’t know what you want me to say. I don’t know what you want from me.”

“To go home, Rita. To go back to where we belong. To a better place where it all makes sense. We could have normal lives.”

“We belong right here. With our family. I don’t know what you think is on this other Earth, but your family is right here! When’s the last time you’ve even asked about Garfield? He lives halfway around the world with his friends and you don’t even talk about him! You’re so obsessed with this idea. It’s like… it’s like your hardly even here.” Rita eyes began to tear up. “Why can’t you just be happy here with us? We need you, Steve.”

Steve searched her face for long seconds before walking back to his desk. “You don’t understand. You will though. I’ll show you all. And don’t try to stop me. I’ll kick you all out if I have to.”

“No.” Rita wiped her eyes. “No, you won’t. Your examination a few weeks by Dr. Swan. The discussion you both had. He was evaluating you. He’s found you mentally unfit to be in control of your estate.”

“What?!” He began to pace around in distress.

“And since you don’t have any family besides Garfield and myself, the court has granted power of attorney to me over all your holdings. Not that it changes much. We’ve handled your business affairs for years now. But you don’t hold the keys to the castle anymore.”

Steve Dayton was dumbfounded. After a pause he faced pinched up as rage built up inside him. “I… you… you can’t…”

“I already have. The team discussed it and decided it was for the best. The papers should be served some time this week.”

“The team?! So that’s it then, eh?” He walked quickly back over to his wife. “That’s all you ever wanted isn’t it?! MY MONEY! You want to come in here and talk about betrayal… I can’t believe you did this to me YOU BI…”

Rita Farr slapped Steve Dayton hard across the face, knocking his Mento helmet off his head. He stepped back again in astonishment.

“Don’t you dare. Now listen to me, Steve Dayton. I know we’ve been through a lot but you’ve got to get it together. You’ve always got a home here with this team and we’ll get you whatever help we can. But if you ever put us in danger again so help me it will be the biggest mistake of your life. Do you understand me?”

Steve wouldn’t look her in the eye.

“Good. Now take a shower for God’s sake.” And with that Rita left and slammed the door behind her.

Epilogue: Unthinkable

Later that night…

Dr. Niles Caulder switched a small desk lamp on in his office. He pulled a ragged journal from his drawer that was covered in notes and had numerous tabs sticking from the top. He opened it and began to write.

Had the unique opportunity today to perform another brain transplant. Everything went well and there should be many chances to observe the psychological effects on the subject in the future. Also, once again Cliff has shown himself to be a prime example of the durability of one’s mind in extraordinary circumstances. As always he proves to be an invaluable source of data. It has been a fruitful day.

“Fruitful indeed. Wouldn’t you say, Mallah?” He looked inquisitively at the brain floating in a jar on the corner of his desk. “I think the Brain has abandoned you too quickly. You may have some potential left in you yet.”

The Chief stood up and stretched his arms before turning out his light and locking his office door as he left.