From behind one of the desks, a middle-aged man with glasses in a white lab coat jerked his head up suddenly from the pile of papers before him. “What?” he said a bit startled. “Who’s there?”

The young man relaxed when he realized the situation was nothing to be concerned about. “Relax, Professor Klein,” he said. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I was just surprised to see you here this late…or did you come in early?”

The scientist relaxed too upon seeing the young man. “No, not early, Donald” the man said as he rose to his feet to greet the young night security guard. "I’m afraid I was burning the midnight oil once again.”

“Looks like you could use some coffee then, Professor,” Donnie Deymond said.   “I have a thermos full back at my station.”

Professor Marvin Klein smiled. “That sounds wonder…”

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound at one of the exterior walls to the facility. Security alarms began to sound, filling the air with a loud, annoying klaxon.

As the whole structure shook, the Professor tried to steady himself. “Heavens! What was that?”

“I don’t know!” Donnie replied as he instinctively reached for the weapon he kept holstered at his waist.

The wall on one side of the room collapsed with a loud boom, and something metallic and large burst into the lab.

“What is that?” the Professor exclaimed. “It’s huge!”

“It looks like…a hand!” the security guard shouted. “Professor, move!” The young man pushed his friend out through the open door and into the hallway just as giant metal fingers began to smash through everything in the room. Donnie dove out to safety as well, but not before he opened fire on the intruder.

It seemed to ignore the bullet barrage as it searched for something. The hand then located a large storage cabinet with thick steel walls, wrapped its fingers about it and pulled the container out of the hole it had previously made.

“The nuclear materials!” the Professor shouted. “We have to get those back!”

Donnie Deymond shook his head. “No way, Prof! That’s bigger than either of us could handle. I doubt the National Guard could take that down!”

Outside, it wasn’t the National Guard who got alerted to the situation at hand. In fact, what they were lacking in pure numbers, they made up for in power and enthusiasm.

“Hey, metal head!” yelled a blue and red blur of a figure as he charged up upon the giant mechanical being that was pulling the radioactive isotopes supply cabinet out of the hole in the wall in the facility. “I don’t think that belongs to you!”

The giant automaton turned its head and focused its visual sensors. The image of the blue and red clad hero Ricochet registered on the system displays. “We’ve got company!” one of the controllers of the creation announced from the insides of the machine. “Combat maneuvers!”

The hundred foot tall robot lifted its free hand and pointed towards the hero. A metal panel slid away and up popped a small rack full of missiles.

“Uh oh,” Ricochet frowned slightly as he saw the rockets engage and launch from their holding station.   The speedster quickly darted to the left as two of the missiles impacted where he was standing. “Tsk tsk. First, breaking and entering, and now assault?   Clearly you’re up to no good.” He laughed as he easily dodged the impact of the second pair of projectiles.

“Let’s crush him!” a voice called from above. The words came out of a large flying dragon who circled above the facility like a vulture.

On his back, another male figure, this one in blue robes with a red cape, snapped his head forward and opened his eyes. “Flamethrower, hold! I fear this task is beyond the capabilities of us three. I have just summoned the others to join us in battle. We need to detain this mechanical monstrosity until the rest of the team arrives.”

The dragon frowned slightly. “Aw, Mystifier, you’re no fun,” he snorted.

As Ricochet continued to draw fire, the robot rose to its feet. The visual sensors noted the flying creature; it flung its left arm back in an attempt to swat the dragon down.

“Hey!” Flamethrower exclaimed as he drew back in the air suddenly to avoid the slap. His mighty wings continued to beat, keeping his large form aloft. “Watch it!”

The sudden movement caused Mystifier to slip from his perch between the dragon’s shoulder blades. Without any panic, he concentrated slightly and the magic abilities from his cape kept him from falling to the ground.  “We have to keep this machine from causing further damage – to property, others and ourselves.”

The robot meanwhile placed its stolen prize into an opening in its chest cavity. Then, while that portion of the armor sealed itself again, something happened about the robot’s right hand. Portions of metal plates emerged and formed into a circular disk.

“I think it has other ideas!” Ricochet said as he noted this. “It’s like one of the transforming robots from the Japanese cartoons!”

There was a slight hum from the disk as the robot’s magnetic generators came online. Then, a nearby parked tractor-trailer went flying into the air, drawn to the robot’s hand by unseen forces.

The robot then pivoted at its waist, spun about and launched the object back at the hero on the ground, all by reversing the magnetic polarity.

“Oh boy!” Ricochet exclaimed as he paused for a second. He knew he could easily dodge the multiple ton truck that the giant robot had thrown about as if it were a toy. But that would just mean it would hit something else. As he brain raced to find a possible alternative, the danger rushed towards him.

Suddenly, the truck halted its descent in mid-air. “I’ve got it!” Mystifier announced. Indeed, his mystical energies had managed to catch the projectile mere feet before impacting his friend.

“And I’ve got the enemy!” Flamethrower called. The dragon, while smaller than the robot, still managed to get behind the construct and wrapped its mighty wings about its back and shoulders.

“Flamethrower!” Mystifier shouted as he lowered the truck to the ground.   “Be careful!”

“What can it do… oooooooo!” The dragon threw his neck backwards and released his grip from the robot. Electrical energy crackled off of the giant machine’s back and between it and the flying creature. As Flamethrower fell backward, his body began to shimmer and shrink.

“He’s changing…” Mystifier cried out.

“Got him!” Ricochet said without hesitation. He darted across the ground, zipped around the robot and managed to catch the falling, costumed ten year old boy in his arms. Looking down at the child’s face, the speedster whispered, “Matt, Matt! Are you okay?”

From beneath an orange mask, the boy’s eyes fluttered open. He was a little disoriented from the unexpected attack. “Yeah…” he said a little groggily. “…what…was…that?”

Ricochet set his friend down on the ground gently. “You just relax a second, kiddo” he said. “We’ll take down that jumbo jerk!” As he looked up, he noticed that the robot was being assaulted by a variety of energy blasts. One was multi-colored, another was a barrage of ice spears, and the third was a wave of solid sound. He smiled a bit. “Looks like the cavalry has arrived!”

“So, this is what interrupted our viewing of the late-late-late show, huh?” the yellow and green costumed Larynx joked.

“You two were still up at this hour?” the white garbed Rainbow asked between a yawn.

“Don’t ask,” the purple and red dressed Hydro Girl replied with a wink.

The trio continued to assault the mechanical menace, though they seemed to be hardly slowing it down in the slightest.

“Hey, gang! Save some for me!” Ricochet called me.

“Me too,” Flamethrower said.  The lad tried to rise to his feet but he was still woozy.

“Rest a bit more, Matt,” Ricochet said softly to the boy. “Let us wear it down a bit.” When the young boy nodded in agreement, the speedster smiled and raced off.

Then Flamethrower frowned slightly as he watched his friends battle the giant robot. He then felt a hand upon his shoulder. “Oh, Mystifier,” he said, remembering to use his guardian’s costumed name.

“He is correct,” the sorcerer told the young man. “Sometimes it is best for some of us to hold back, to determine how and when we can best aid in the battle.”

“Yes,” the lad said. Then his eyes grew wide with idea.   “Say, why don’t you turn that thing into a rabbit or something?”

Mystifier shook his head.  “My arcane abilities have little direct use against technology,” he explained. “That is why instead I used my astral projection to quickly cross the city and contact the others. Rainbow, Hydro Girl and Larynx were first to arrive. Night Owl and User will be along before too long. I fear we will need everyone’s abilities to take down this monstrous machine.”

“Will that be enough?” Flamethrower asked.

“I hope so,” Mystifier said.  But his confident look hid his thoughts.   If only we had the might of Amazon with us as well. Diana’s power would certainly turn the tide of this battle much quicker.

***

In an abandoned warehouse that had been converted into a base of operations, a quartet of costumed super-criminals conversed in soft tones.

“So, were you able to break her down?” the red and orange garbed Prince Pyro asked with some anticipation.

“Of course!” the blue skinned Dr. Delirium replied. “Do you doubt my abilities? I would be happy to give you a personal demonstration!” The white haired fiend prepared to remove one of his purple gloves.

“No, no,” Pyro replied with a violent shake of his head that almost dislodged the crown he wore atop of it. “I’ll take your word for it, Doc.”

“Delirium is the best,” the muscular blonde Madame Mammoth stated. “We each are, in our own ways. That is why we are now calling ourselves the Evil Elite, and that is why we will crush all of those who oppose us!” She slammed him mighty fist down upon the makeshift table, smashing right through the wood and sending a shower of splinters to the floor.

The blonde Golden Greek merely turned up her nose at the display. “So, now that she is ‘broken’, what good can she be to us?” She glanced over her shoulder to the other blonde young woman in the next room who sat a bit bewildered and unaware of the conversation of which she was the focus.

Madame Mammoth smiled a large, toothy grin. “The only thing ‘broken’ is her will and spirit. And while I would enjoy destroying my arch-enemy here and now, she can still be of use to us.”

“How?” the Greek pressed pointedly.

“I have used my rather unique abilities to play with her mind,” Delirium explained. “Through controlled torture, I have managed to induce a form of amnesia. She does not remember who or what she is. From that point, we have been able to feed her memories we wanted – to reprogram her so that she believes that we are her allies and that she serves us.”

“Great!” Pyro said. “So we have a sexy little slave to do our bidding.” He licked his lips at the thought of that.

“Not just a slave,” Mammoth corrected. “Some of her memories we did not disrupt – things like where the Protectors gather, for example. We shall use her to lead us to them. Then we will ambush the lot of them and destroy them for crossing us and our plans earlier this year.”

The other three villains nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, in the next room, Diana Kane – the former heroine named Amazon – dropped down to her knees and slowly crawled across the floor. Her motions were slow and unnoticed, yet her expression was still one of a daze. She made her way quietly to a small shelf and glanced upward.

Sitting on the wooden planks was a small box.

Slowly, cautiously, like a child, Diana rose to her feet and used her hands to steady herself with the shelving structure. She then reached up slowly, cautiously, to the box and lifted it down.

Carefully, she placed her hands to the sides and lifted the hinged lid. As the box was opened, a very feint crimson glow began to seep out from it.

The glow seemed to call to her, beckon her.

She opened the box wide enough to reach her hand inside and withdrew the contents into her hand. She stared at the object with the slight glow.  It was warm and vaguely familiar to her.

“Agent, come here!” a stern voice came from the next room.

Diana closed the empty box and shoved it onto the bottom shelf, all the while palming the object and placing it into the pockets of the jacket she wore. She dared not stray too long for fear of angering Madame Mammoth. Something told her in the back of her head that Mammoth was dangerous and a force with which to be reckoned.

And, yet, she also dared not leave this item behind – whatever it was. Something else in the back of her head told her this gemstone was way too important to be left behind.

***

“This ain’t cuttin’ it!” the User said as he pounded his fists against the metal armor of one of the robot’s legs. A few moments ago after he and Night Owl arrived, he had touched a steel pole and had taken on the attributes of the metal. Despite his altered molecular structure, his blows were doing little to dent the armor.

“Really!” Larynx said as his latest sonic barrage was reflected off of the giant’s armor. “I thought you guys were going to help us turn the tide!”

“Now you know how we felt before when you and the girls arrived, golden-throat,” Ricochet added.  “Even with the entire team here, we’re barely slowing this thing down!”

“It has to have a weakness!” Night Owl encouraged the others from above as she tried circling around to strike it from behind. She barely dodged a sweeping brush by the menace’s arm.

“If it does, we’re not seeing it!” Rainbow replied as she blasted it once more.

Nearby, Hydro Girl approached her remaining teammates who were standing off to one side.   “Mystifier, we’re up against a wall here,” she pointed out. “Any ideas?”

“I’m ready to go dragon again,” Flamethrower announced.

Hydro Girl put a comforting arm on the lad’s shoulder. “Hold that thought for one second, Matt.” She turned to the mystic who had brought the team together and was, in a lot of ways, their unspoken leader. “Alan?”

The sorcerer considered the situation before him. Indeed, his friends were barely keeping the robot warrior from making off with its stolen goods. But a strategy had come to him. “As Falstaff said in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, discretion is the better part of valor.”

“Meaning?” the boy asked.

“We take this moment to retreat.”

“Give up?”

Hydro Girl caught Mystifier’s eyes and followed his thought process. “I know what he has in mind, Matt,” she told the boy. “I’ll pass the word along to the others!”

Within a few moments, the heroes were backing off from the battle, appearing to be defeated and dejected. As the group flew off in one direction, the giant robot turned and flew off in the other.

After a few moments, the air shimmered and Rainbow and Ricochet appeared as if they had stepped out of thin air.

“I’ll follow it!” the speedster said.

“And I’ll round up the others,” the illusionist added. “We’ll be right behind you. Just stay out of sight until it gets to its destination.”

“Right!” Ricochet said with a slight salute with his red gloved hand.

***

The giant robot had barely completed its descent into the hidden mountain based and touched down on the floor with a loud rumble when a quartet of men raced across the floor towards it.

“Quickly, inside!” Dr. Zander ordered as a small hatch near the back of the left heel slid open.

“ Ja !” said the Dr. Kostok. “We must get to our stations!” He disappeared into the opening and began to ascend a metal ladder.

“Schnell, schnell ,” Dr. Heinlin said, reverting to his native tongue as he often did in times of stress. He was soon moving up the ladder and nearly plowing into his Russian comrade.

“What of the others?” Dr. Fujama asked before moving through the hatch. “Dr. Williams, for example?”

”No time!” the American Zander barked as he pushed the Asian on ahead.   “Security couldn’t find him in his lab!” As he started to climb the ladder, the hatch closed which left the access tunnel only illuminated by period lights along the walls of the tall shaft. I never should have trusted Williams!  He never bought in fully like the others! He better hope our paths don’t cross any time soon!

***

On the wooded path about a mile away from the hidden complex, Ted Williams staggered a bit and had to stop to catch his breath. What’s that? he thought to himself. He perked his ears in the direction from which he came. I heard that rumble over head when the unit returned to the base, but is that the feint sound of alarms too? What could that mean? Do they know…?

He clutched his hand to the side of his brown haired head and groaned slightly in pain. “ Ugggggh …these headaches!”

After a moment, he regained his composure and began to scurry off once more. I need to get away from here, have some time to think…to figure out what’s going on!   He kept his eyes forward and pressed on, hoping to reach the main road soon where he might be able to hitch a ride.

Had he bothered to look overhead, he might have caught a quick glimpse of a group of figures rocketing past and heading for the M.I.S.T. complex.

***

Inside the control center of the giant robot warrior, Dr. Zander and the others arrived and caught the technicians by surprise. “Sirs, we were just about to shut her down,” one of them said.

“No!” Zander exclaimed as he rushed forward, shoving the man from his seat.   He took the position behind the controls. “You idiots were tricked!”

“What?” the other technicians asked. They started to move aside as the head scientists on the project took their places at the controls.

“You were so busy patting yourselves on the back from the battle that you didn’t realize you were being followed!” Zander spat.   “Our long range sensors picked up the approach of those meddling costumed heroes! You were already making your ascent when we tried to signal you!”

“ Vhat ist the plan?” Dr. Kostok said has he finished strapping himself in.

“We’re getting out of here with the finished unit,” Zander said, “before those heroes…”

“They’re here!” Dr. Fujama exclaimed. Indeed, from the view screen in the control panel, the scientists could see a half dozen costumed heroes and a rather large flying dragon enter the chamber through the opening in the ceiling.

“Damn it!” Zander cursed. He began punching at the controls. “Everyone, battle stations!”

“We can’t do battle in such a confined space,” Dr. Fujama cautioned.

“We must flee!” Dr. Heinlen shouted.

“ Ja!” Dr. Kostok added.  “We have come too far to be stopped now.”

Zander was so angry he could spit nails. “You’re right!” he admitted. “But this facility is compromised! I’m putting it out of business before we go!” He punched at the controls.

***

“Holy mother of…” User started to exclaim as he sat with Ricochet on the back of their dragon teammate.  “They’re building more than one of those robot warriors!” Indeed, at the far end of the huge open chamber beneath the mountain range was scaffolding rising hundreds of feet in the air with the skeletal framework of another giant robot.

“Not for long!” Flamethrower exclaimed. The dragon breathed in air and then summoned forth a stream of flame from deep inside his body. The fiery blast shot forth from his mouth and rained down upon the construction site.

The workmen who had been on break nearby went scurrying as their hard work went up in flames.

“Looks like we’ve got runners!” Ricochet announced. “Time to go corral them up!” He leapt off the back of the dragon and used his feet to create an air column to slow his decent to the floor. Then he proceeded to catch the workers one at a time and put them back at a safe place in the room away from the doors and danger.

“I’ll help you with that,” Hydro Girl announced. Using her abilities, she summoned forth large amounts of ice to create a barrier to keep the men that Ricochet rounded up at bay.

User noticed that the large robot that had tracked here was coming back to life. A number of missiles popped up from one of the hands.  “Everyone, look out! Its about to fire!”

The first round of rockets went and struck the walls of the chamber. The explosion caused the building structure to shatter, raining down materials and rocks. Further, the vibrations from the explosion caused even more damage.

“Mr. Roboto’s gone nuts!” Larynx exclaimed as he used his sonic blasts to shatter some of the larger fragments into smaller, less threatening size.  “We’ve got to put a stop to him!”

“Do that!” Mystifier said.  “I’ll help protect the others on the ground!” Using his mystical powers, he summoned forth a dome of energy. The debris bounced off of it and to the side, keeping the heroes and the workers safe from harm.

Larynx joined the other fliers who were attempting to circle about the active robot. “We need to take it down, now!” User called from atop of Flamethrower’s back.

“What’s that sound?” Night Owl asked.

The rumbling was coming from the robot. The group saw the rockets in the legs of it ignite, and it started to rise off of the ground.

“Not again!” Larynx said.  “Everyone, blast it! Stop it from taking off!”

The team followed his lead, and they opened fire with everything they had.

It wasn’t enough.

The robot shot into the air, straight up. The heroes had to fall back to avoid being scorched by the backwash of the propulsion system.

“We have to follow it!” Rainbow cried.

“I’ll do it!” Flamethrower called. The dragon swooped up sharply.

“Whoa!” User yelled as he tried to stay on the creature’s back. Instead, he began to slide due to the slick scales, and he slipped off.

“Gotcha!” Larynx said as he grabbed his friend’s hand and flew him to safety.

“I owe ya one, blondie !” User said graciously.

“I’ll run you a tab.”

Night Owl shot up and out of the complex only to realize that the dragon was nearby, circling.   “Flamethrower,” she called out, “where is the robot?”

The dragon swooped back and hovered beside her. Looking down dejectedly, he said “it was too fast. It was gone before I could get up to speed.”

The heroine reached out and touched the creature gently with her white gloved hand. “It’s okay, Matt,” she said, realizing that behind the giant beast was in fact still an inexperienced little boy. “We’ll track it down eventually. Let’s go see if we can help the others below. At least we managed to find out where that thing was made, and we’ve captured some of the people responsible for its creation.”

The two flew back down into the facility and rejoined the other Protectors. In a short time, they had managed to round up everyone still left inside to be turned over to the authorities.

Ricochet had made a quick sweep of the place and rejoined the others. “This place is rather large,” he announced. “Lots of labs and personal quarters and what not. Looks like they had a regular full time operation here to build those robots. And check this out.” He had a small folder in his hands with a logo on top.

“M…I…S…T…” Rainbow read aloud. “Mist?”

“I thumbed through it,” Ricochet said. “It stands for Mechanized Instigators of the Supreme Take-Over. Where do they get this stuff?”

“Really,” Larynx said. “That’s as lame of a name as I ever heard.”

“Well, they’re out of business now,” User said.

“We’ll need to alert the authorities and the Justice Gang,” Mystifier said. “Even with their home base captured, that leaves one formidable construct and its crew still on the loose. And whatever they took from the Indian Point Nuclear Research Facility just might still be something they could put to use.”

The others nodded in silent, solemn agreement.