Dr. Faustus sits at a desk in his office, smoking a filter cigarette, as "Ann Raymond" paces nervously behind him.

"I’m still not sure that I did the right thing," "Ann" says, continuing to pace. Her face is flush, and there are bags under her eyes, indicating that she has not had a good night’s sleep in quite some time.

"Come now, my dear," Dr. Faustus replies coldly, sifting through some papers on his desk. "You’ve never been sure of anything in your entire life…have you?"

"I…I don’t know," she replies, her face indicating that this subject requires further thought for her.

Faustus merely shakes his head and snickers under his breath. He continues to sift through the papers of a certain file. As he pulls it out, a picture of "Ann" is there, along with psychological examination results and various notes.

"You—you said you’d help me," "Ann" protests, stopping to look at Faustus. "I came to you two years ago, and you said you’d help me with my problems."

"Oh, and I have, my dear," Dr. Faustus replies coldly, turning his swivel chair around to face the distraught woman. "Have I not diagnosed your problem?"

"I don’t understand your diagnosis," "Ann" replies with hesitance, as if afraid to question Faustus.

"Due to your…traumatic experience when you were 10," Faustus explains slowly, condescendingly, after a loud sigh, "you started to develop an aversion to reality. As an ego defense mechanism, you developed twelve different personalities, each serving their own purpose for your ego. True, they did not all come at once. Your last personality—that of ‘Ann Raymond’—was developed shortly before you came to see me. It was your way of dealing with the publicized return of the Human Torch, the mentor of Toro, who you became infatuated with several years ago. You say that I have not helped you. How many personalities do you have now?"

"One," she replies.

"And, do you know your name now?" Faustus continues to press the issue. Her notices her nod, while lowering her head. "Very good," he continues. "And who are you?"

"Margaret," she replies softly, as if the name was foreign to her. "Margaret Collier."

Faustus gets up from his seat, and gently puts his hand on her shoulder. "We have come a long way in your treatment, Margaret," he assures her. "But, we still have some issues to deal with. Once Toro and the Human Torch are dead, your treatment will be complete."

"I…understand," she replies softy, keeping her head down.

Suddenly, the door bursts open, revealing "Captain America", who walks in the door, carrying his shield on his arm. "Faustus!" he calls out angrily. "I will not work with common criminals!"

Another man walks into the door, wearing the original Moonstone costume. "And I won’t work with this loud-mouth lunatic!" the man responds sharply.

"Keep running your mouth," "Captain America" responds, slamming Moonstone against the wall with the shield, and glaring at him, "and I’ll ram this shield down your throat!"

"I’m glad that you found a shield that won’t break on you!" Moonstone responds sarcastically, as "Cap" glares at him. "You didn’t do so well the last time you went up against the real Captain America, did you?"

"He beat you twice!" "Cap" exclaims, shoving the shield up against the side of Moonstone’s head, trapping it between his shield and the wall. "Even after you got Count Nefaria’s powers! And, don’t call me mad! You’re the one who spent time in the mental ward after Karla Sofen tricked you into giving her the moonstone…and stealing your identity!"

"Ah, Karla," Dr. Faustus muses, looking on at the conflict between the two with interest. "I trained her well."*

[*Karla Sofen, Moonstone II (now called Meteorite), was indeed Faustus’ former student, which explains a lot about her.]

"Ahhr!" Moonstone exclaims through a fit of rage, raising his arms violently and with such strength that it sends "Cap" flying across the room, slamming into the wall on the other side of the room. "Don’t ever mention her name again!"

"Calm down, my friends," Dr. Faustus comments, walking over between the two, even as "Cap" is rising quickly to face his foe, stunned by his showing of strength. "There are more important things to accomplish than warring with one another."

"Yeah, maybe," "Cap" replies, his steely eyes still glaring at Moonstone, who has backed away from the wall.

"Sure, sure," Moonstone agrees reluctantly. "Besides," he adds mentally. "I’ll get a chance at this screwball some other time, now that I’ve got another moonstone. It’s just a shame that those powers I had as Nefarious didn’t last."*

[*Keep your eyes on Captain America for the details.]

Meanwhile, in a secret laboratory adjacent to the room we just left, we find the Human Torch and Toro, against a wall, their hands and feet bound with sophisticated metal bonds. Along the metal bonds, which appear to be large bracelets, covering from their forearms down on their arms, and everything beneath the knees on their legs, are a series of lights, which alternate in colors from blue to red to green. These bonds are designed to hold the two heroes and prevent them from using their flame powers. A colorless, odorless gas permeates the room, subconsciously sapping their strength.

"I don’t understand why I feel so weak, Torch," Toro comments lethargically. "It’s a struggle to hold up my head.

"Faustus is pumping gas into the room," Torch explains. "You’d probably have detected it yourself, but the gas is obviously having a greater effect on you, given that you actually need to breath."

"But, why are we here?" Toro asks, frustrated. "And why did Cap attack us?"

"First of all, we’re dealing with Dr. Faustus, an old enemy of Cap’s," Torch explains. "He may be after us because of ‘guilt by association’. You never can tell with those types. But, rest assured, that’s not Cap—at least not the original one. He clocked me from behind, but I assure you that he’s much stronger than the real Cap."

"Wait a minute!" Toro says, looking up at the Torch. "I remember another Cap in the 50’s.* He fought with a group called the Avengers. I helped out on a couple of missions back then. He was also super-strong. He’s also supposed to be dead, though, apparently by his own hand."

[*One such occasion was during Nemo’s return in Avengers 1958 #7-8.]

"How many times have we seen our foes ‘die’, only to return, Toro?" the Torch asks casually. "Besides, if I remember correctly from reading the Avengers files, he was working for Dr. Faustus then too."*

[*A more accurate way to describe it would be to say that he was being controlled by Dr. Faustus, who had him in the role of the Grand Director. See Captain America #233-236 for details.]

"I’ll have to admit," Toro replies, his eyes lighting up for a moment. "You’ve got a point."

"Don’t worry, Toro," the Torch comments, trying to keep Toro’s spirits up. "We’ll get out of here." Toro cannot see the pensive expression on the Torch’s face, as he adds mentally: "Toro has a lot on his mind, with not being able to find his wife and children, and ‘Ann’ impersonating his wife. I need to get us both out of here so he can get his confidence back, and we can put an end to Faustus’ meddling in our lives." Torch lets a slight smile cross his face. "And I think I know just how to do it."

INTERLUDE

In the Arizona desert, Challenger, Silver Scorpion, Captain Wonder, Tim, and the Fiery Mask walk through a deserted airfield, as dry sand blows around them. Tim rubs his eyes, trying to get out some sand that flew into his face and eyes, while the others do their best to cover their faces with their arms.

"Is there some reason we’re in the middle of the desert?" Tim asks facetiously. "I was content to stay on the East Coast."

"I’m afraid that we need to fully assess our situation first," Challenger replies, as he walks ahead of the others, heading towards a large hanger. "And I determined that this was the best way to do it." Challenger pulls open the large hanger door with both hands, and then directs the others inside.

"Well, this certainly beats fighting that wind and sand," Silver Scorpion comments, running her hands through her blond hair, as the wind continues to howl outside.

"You’ll get no argument from me on that," Captain Wonder agrees, closing the door to the hanger behind them. Although the light is dim inside the hanger, there are enough windows to be able to see the contents of the hanger. There are shelves on both sides of the far walls, with some scattered tools. There are three small planes on the floor of the hanger at various stages of construction. One of them looks to be nearly completed, but it shows the signs of decades of neglect.

"What a place!" Fiery Mask comments, looking around. "This whole airfield is a ghost town!"

"Which will facilitate our needs nicely," Challenger points out. "However, we are not here merely to hide from peering eyes." So saying, he walks over to an old wood-burning stove. Reaching inside, where old aches line the walls of the stove, some scattering into the air or falling to the ground, he finds a small button. He pushes the button, and then stands back, as the wood stove slides back across the floor, revealing a trap door, with stairs leading down into the darkness.

"Well, I’ll be...!" Silver Scorpion says, surprised by what she sees. "I don’t believe it! You’ve got a base under this hanger!"

"Actually, I have a number of remote bases at different locations," Challenger replies, reaching behind him on one of the shelves, picking up a green lantern, and lighting it. "Others are in more populated areas of the world. It seems that the population has increased substantially since we were...asleep (for lack of a better word), and some of the more remote locations are no longer remote. Until I re-start the generators below, we’ll need some light. This will due nicely."

As they walk down behind Challenger, they look at an underground complex of surprising sophistication. There is machinery on the walls, and two more lanterns along the hallway leading down. Challenger stops long enough to light them in turn, which illuminates the base further. The others look on at equipment that was decades ahead of its time when it was last used.

"This is amazing!" Captain Wonder comments, looking around and shaking his head in disbelief. "I’m sure these computers can give us a lot of information about the world around us."

"I am certain that a lot of upgrades will be required," Challenger says, putting the lantern on a table. The table has an old newspaper with a 1945 date on it, but the paper looks as white as when it was first published—55 years earlier! "Hold on a moment," he says, and disappears into a room that looks to be the size of a closet. Moments later, the room is illuminated, and the machines hum to life.

"The generator," Captain Wonder comments. "I’m amazed at how well-preserved everything is."

"I designed the generator," Challenger replies, coming out of the room, and returning to the table, which is surrounded by Captain Wonder, Tim, and Silver Scorpion. Fiery Mask stands back a few feet, taking everything in with great interest.

"You wouldn’t happen to have a bathroom in here, would you?" Tim asks sheepishly. "I’ve been needing to go for about an hour now."

"I sure do, Tim," Challenger replies, pointing to a door down a narrow hallway. "Right over there."

As Tim makes his way down the hall, Fiery Mask continues to look on with disbelief at the complex. He walks over to a small sink, and turns the water on. At first, the faucet responds with air and discolored water, but soon the water is clear. "Is this water fit to drink?" Fiery Mask asks, noticing that there are glasses in the cabinet above the sink.

"It should be fine," Challenger responds from his position at the desk. Fiery Mask is behind him, and he makes no effort to turn and face his fellow hero. "I put down a deep well, which leads to an underground artesian water supply. You might want to let it run for a few seconds to get the air out of the pipes."

"We should be safe here while we figure everything out," Silver Scorpion comments, leaning on the desk, as the Challenger reaches across the desk, where he finds a box of electronic equipment. He sifts through it, placing certain parts on the table.

"While that is true," Challenger agrees, keeping his attention on the task at hand, "that is not my primary purpose for bringing us here. I need the equipment to pursue a plan to acclimate us to this time period."

"What do you have in mind?" Captain Wonder asks. Also a scientist, he is understandably curious at to what Challenger is working on, particularly given the electrical equipment that he is even now piecing together. Captain Wonder prides himself as being an intelligent man and a good scientist in his own right, but he has always stood in awe of the accomplishments that Challenger has always been capable of, and his curiosity is heightened by seeing Challenger actually in the process of his craft.

"When we were in Berlin, I read an account of the Human Torch," Challenger replies, continuing to piece together the device. He places some of the wires into half of a metal container 1/3 of the size of an envelope and shaped like a small box, while continuing to piece his project together.

"That’s good news, isn’t it?" Silver Scorpion asks, looking on. "I mean, that there are others that we know who are here?"

"Yes, and that is the nature of my plan," Challenger replies, placing the other half of the small box, which has buttons attached to it. "I have calibrated this tracer to locate the Human Torch, based on my knowledge of his android biochemistry. I plan to find out more from him about where we are and what happened to us."

"It’s not just that!" Silver Scorpion says excitedly. "I saw the paper in Berlin! I may not be able to read German, but I don’t have any problem with dates! It’s been 55 years since we...disappeared! What about our friends and families?!"

Challenger stands up, embracing her to comfort her, as she shakes involuntarily. "We won’t know," Challenger replies. "We know that the world has changed a great deal since we’ve been gone, and we know what that means for the people we once knew. But, for now, we have to make first contact with someone who has been around throughout all of the changes, and can help us find those answers...and get our lives back together again!"

End of Interlude

Meanwhile, back in the hidden laboratory that is holding the Human Torch and Toro, the pair continues to be chained against the wall. Toro’s head nods down alternatively, but he tries to keep it up when he becomes aware of it, fighting off the drowsy effects of the gas that is poisoning him and keeping him from resisting.

"I need to get us out of here," the Human Torch thinks to himself, while looking over at Toro. "This gas keeps him so drowsy that he can’t hardly concentrate on what he needs to do to break free."

Suddenly, the air in front of the Human Torch bursts into flames, and the electric bonds holding him firm start to short circuit. "I did manage to learn a few things from Effigy,"* the Torch silently considers. "While I’m sure it wasn’t his intention, his comments about my not using my powers to their fullest potential have led me to give a lot of thought to what those powers can do." With the devices short-circuited, it takes minimal effort for the Torch to melt the metal shackles to slag. Then, he turns his attention to Toro’s shackles, giving them the same treatment.

[*Human Torch’s artificial "brother". See Human Torch #1-6 for details.]

"What?" Toro says groggily, as he falls forward, caught by the Torch’s mighty arms. "What’d ya do?"

"I ignited the gas molecules in the air," the Torch replies. "Although they weren’t as highly flammable as some gasses, they were certainly inflammable enough. And, I used the electricity to create sparks within the bonds...short-circuiting them."

"Good plan," Toro says, as the Torch continues to support him, noticing that Toro is very unsteady on his feet, and trying his best to fight off unconsciousness.

"After I ignited the gas, emergency safeguards prevented any more gas from coming into the room," the Torch comments, while leading Toro to the door of their holding cell, which is bolted and made of solid titanium metal. "The problem is that you still have a lot of that stuff in your system."

"I know, Torch," Toro comments groggily. "I’m trying to fight it, but my body just wants to lay down on the floor and sleep for a week."

"No time for that, I’m afraid!" Torch replies. He then gestures at the door, sending out intense beams of heat that melt a large hole in the titanium door almost instantly, as molten metal drips from the corners of the hole onto the floor. Above them, emergency sprinklers start to go off, but the Torch’s super-heated body evaporates the water before it has the chance to reach him. He then directs waves of intense heat upward at the emergency sprinklers, causing them to melt and malfunction. "We need to get out of here."

"That, I’m afraid, I cannot allow," the Torch hears the voice, once he and Toro reach the outer hall. He turns to see the form of Dr. Faustus, who is flanked to the left by Moonstone and to the right by the 1950’s Captain America. "Although I must admit that I’m impressed by your method of escape. Those fools at AIM assured me that the bonds, coupled with the other emergency procedures, would prevent your escape."

"They were wrong!" the Torch responds coldly, while pushing Toro against the wall, where he holds on for support, as he continues to try to clear his head.

"Got to shake this!" Toro thinks to himself. "If I don’t, I’ll be more liability than help to the Torch!"

"Subdue them!" Faustus orders, as 1950’s Captain America and Moonstone start advancing towards the flaming partners.

"Gladly!" Moonstone remarks. "I’m looking forward to cutting loose again!"

"Yeah, me too!" Cap responds, a fierce look in his eyes, as he advances towards the Torch, who looks at them, but tries to keep Toro in the corner of his eye.

Needless to say, to be continued...

Human Torch #5 and #6 (Jeff Melton):

I had promised myself that I'd read Jeff's stories when they finally got published. I knew he really wanted to write this and I'm glad he finally got the chance. The two issues were nice and I liked the villain he brought in (the big one in the background). It fits in nicely with the Torch's history. I also thought that Jeff made the Torch more than just a cardboard cutout, as he's usually portrayed.

I don't want to go into too many details, but the two issues were nicely done. I liked the stories better as we entered the parts of the issues that were clearly Jeff's ideas and not what Barry had started. That's not to say that Barry's parts were bad, just that you could tell that Jeff was more comfortable with his own ideas.

My only real problem with the issues was the bold lettering. I know they were meant for emphasis, but it took me awhile to get used to them. I also didn't think some of them were in the right spot for emphasis. But that could just be me.

I'm going to be reading #7 soon. Keep up the good work Jeff.

Baloo

I’m glad that you’re enjoying the series, Baloo. I know I’m enjoying writing these characters. Human Torch always came off to me as a very human and multi-dimensional character, although I agree with you that not all writers portray him that way. I’m trying to capture the different aspects of his character. I hope you continue to enjoy the series. Keep in touch.