Amazing Fantasy (vol. 2) #20
Unnatural Selection Part Five
In Geneva, Switzerland, UN Secretary-General Okuda is welcomed to Fosse Plaza for a summit where AIM will be signing a peace treaty with the United Nations. Security is tight, but nobody is truly prepared for Death’s Head 3.0, which has been reprogrammed by Varina Goddard to assassinate Okuda in a bid to reclaim AIM and restore it to the organization it used to be when her great-grandmother ran it. Trapped inside is the Uni-Alias, a duplication of the Uni-Power, a sentient energy source. It is helpless to stop Death’s Head from murdering one of the soldiers guarding the summit. It doesn’t think it can override the Death’s Head’s directives, at least not directly…
While at a hospital in Annecy, France, Raymond Hidalgo wakes up after being left for dead by the Death’s Head unit. Even though he is still in rough shape he demands to be put in touch with GEIST Agent Braccia. When the doctors tell him to get back to bed, he tells them that the cyborg that put him in this condition is going to kill someone that will shake the whole world unless they do something to stop it. Put in touch with Agent Braccia, he tells her that the Death’s Head cyborg actually killed him, but some powersource inside the machine brought him back to life. He tells Braccia that there is a fledgling consciouce inside the machine that is fighting against the murderous programming creatd by Varina Goddard. He tells her that AIM created an artificial variant of the Uni-Power and it is attempting to follow its original directive, to give power those in crisis, but Varina’s programming is preventing it from completing this task. He insists on being brought to Geneva since he is the only one who can stop Death’s Head.
By this time, the treaty session begins as Agent Braccia tells her superior that the Death’s Head unit is coming to kill the Secretary-General. Checkin in with his securit team, the commander realizes that she is telling the truth when one of his units does not report back. Outside the assembly hall, the Death’s Head unit waits on the roof of the building looking down from the skylight waiting for the moment to strike. In its mind, the Uni-Alias struggles over control, thinking how it lost its sense of identity when it witnessed a political prisoner get killed and wonders what will happen now. That’s when soldiers surround the Death’s Head unit waiting for it to make its next move. At that same moment, a helicopter carrying Raymond Hidalgo is arriving on the scene. Despite his doctor’s protests that he is still internally bleeding, Raymond refuses to lay down.
While at AIM’s Euro-Hub, Varina Goddard has seized control and taken Lars Heinkel and Jana Breski — scientists who were sent to shut down AIM’s final criminal operations — prisoner. She forces them to watch the feed coming out ot the United Nations, telling them that they are about to witness history in the making. When they ask her what she hopes to gain from assassinating the Secretary-General, she explains she is attempting to undo the last decade that has neutered the organization that was made great by her family. With AIM under her control she will begin a new world order where she will genetically modify society into her idea of perfection.
At that moment, the soldiers try to destroy the Death’s Head unit, but nothing seems to stop the cyborg. While down below, Agent Braccia tries to evacuate the Secretary-General. However, by this point, the Death’s Head unit has fought through the troops and leaped down into the assembly room. That’s when Raymond Hidalgo arrives and is loweded into the assembly room as well. There he confronts the Death’s Head unit and talks directly to the Uni-Alias, telling it to take control, reminding it that it is a just entity with a mind of its own. He then put Death’s Head gun up against his bleeding chest. However, before it can shoot he manages to shut it down by saying its failsafe, the word “simpatico”.
Three Days Later
When Raymond wakes up at the Sisters of Grace Hospital, he finds Agent Braccia waiting by his bedside. She wants to know how he knew Death’s Head’s failsafe code and he tells her that it told him when the Uni-Alias connected with him earlier. Impressed, she asks if he has ever considered a career with GEIST. He politely declines, telling her that he has had enough excitement for two lifetimes. He then asks what happend while he was out. She tells him that AIM is back under control, but Varina Goddard has vanished without a trace, the treaty was signed. When he asks about Death’s Head, Braccia tells him that it appears to be deactivated for good.
However, this is a lie as at that moment, a newly upgraded Death’s Head has been sent by GEIST to the nation Brataskavia to eliminate a terrorist by the name of Ivan Golinski.
Recurring Characters
Death’s Head 3.0, Raymond Hidalgo, AIM (Varina Goddard), GEIST (Agent Braccia), Lars Heinkel, Jana Breski
Steam-Powered Heart
At a local saloon, an outlaw named Jake Rutherford gets rowdy when the barkeep doesn’t serve drinks fast enough. However, before he gets violent, he is pistol whipped from behind in the back by Bob Dolan the new sheriff in town. He tells all the patrons they are welcome in town as long as they stay out of trouble, but says that from now on they have to all turn in their weapons to the bartender until they are ready to leave. When they realize he’s not kidding, the patrons pile up their guns at the bar.
Once locked in one of the jail cells, Jake warns Dolan that his brothers will break him out once they hear he has been arrested. Bob finds this amusing and tells his deputy, who tells him that the Rutherford Boys aren’t ones to be taken lightly. He then tells the deputy to keep an eye on things while he goes out for lunch and to check in on his father. Jake once more warns Dolan to let him out or he and his brothers will cut his ears off.
Dolan then goes down to his father’s blacksmith shop where he is shown a steam-powered mechanical horse his father invented. Showing off the horse, which moves like the real thing, tells his son that he’s named the mechanical steed Tin. When Bob returns to his office he is horrified to see that Jake Rutherford is free and that he and his brothers have hung his deputy. Bob is overpowered and the brothers beat him senseless and then cut off his ears.
Found by the locals, they take Bob to his father, who decides to do something since his son is still alive. When Bob wakes up he discovers that his father has replaced his damaged body with a metal one powered by steam. At first, he Dolan thinks he’s a freak, but when his father encourages him to go to the saloon and bring in the Rutherford boys, he quickly discovers the benefits of haing a metallic body. He quickly confronts the Rutherford Boys and when they realize their bullets have no effect on this new sheriff, they surrender. Once back in jail, Jake Rutherford asks if the Sheriff is some kind of monster, he doesn’t disagree, but as long as the fire in his body still burns he’ll be the Steam Sheriff.[1]
Recurring Characters
Steam Rider, Tin
Continuity Notes
This was the only Steam Rider story up until relatively recently. The character has a mention in Marvel Westerns: Outlaw Files #1. His spirit will later make an appearance in the modern age in War of Realms: Journey into Mystery #3-5., how he died remains unrevealed.
