A Carefully Edited Version of the Truth

"I wasn't always a villain," Moonstone said. "I was a real psychiatrist. I helped people. And I didn't want to go back to prison. Doctor Doom made me an offer. Set me up in private practice, a new identity, implants to refine my powers...and all I had to do was take Susan Storm-Richards as my client. He arranged everything."

Reed Richards was no fool. Hidden sensors were reading Karla Sofen's biometrics. Any spike in heart rate, any dilation of pupils that would indicate lying would have been immediately apparent. Yet her vitals remained steady.

"Why?" Sue Storm said.

"Doom saw you as the linchpin that holds the Fantastic Four together," Karla went on. "He wanted me to find something to drive a wedge between you and your husband. Once you were broken up, the rest of the Fantastic Four would follow. It was all part of his vendetta against Reed Richards."

"Why you?" Reed asked. "That isn't like Doom."

Karla gave a bitter smile. "That was the point. You've gotten too good at predicting him. By going with outside help, he would be able to attack you from an unexpected direction—one you hadn't prepared a defense against. It was dumb luck that I was discovered—"

"No," Reed said, shaking his head. "Not dumb luck. Sue's compassion is what saved you. The damage those implants could cause to your system through continued use can be irreversible. You could have died."

The villain hung her head. She had no answer to that.

Sue took a deep breath.

"Were you really treating me at any point?" she asked. "Or was it all part of the scheme?"

Karla raised her head and stared into those blue eyes.

"The practical part was pure psychiatry. Trying to find out more about the subject, uncovering how you think, the hidden forces guiding your thoughts and actions. The implants let me release small, targeted gravimetric pulses. Knocked your brain into a suggestible state. I couldn't give you commands, but I could give you ideas that your subconscious might act on, according to your nature," Karla said. "And, with repeated treatments..."

"Like Pavlov's dog," Reed Richards interrupted.

Karla winced. "Not quite. I couldn't get Sue Storm to do anything she didn't really want to do, much less trigger behavior on command. She wouldn't kill, for example, because she isn't a murderer. But if there were hidden desires below the surface, wanting to find expression...repeated treatments could lower her inhibitions. That was the idea, anyway. But it looks like I overdid it."

"Yes," Sue Storm said, though there was an unsureness in her voice. As if she didn't quite believe what she was saying.

"So," Karla said. "What now? If you send me to prison, Doom will kill me. He doesn't tolerate failure."