Sue Storm Tested the Mole Man's Mood-Altering Spores

Past (The Fantastic Four #31)

An entire block of New York City was drawn into the subterranean underworld. Pale Moloids grabbed the Invisible Woman and led her away, at the Mole Man's direction. On the surface world above, Sue Storm knew her family was aware of the strange happenings, that they would soon be here. There would be plenty of witnesses to let them know of her abduction, and Sue bit her lip, feeling the betrayal as the Moloids ushered her into the Mole Man's presence.

"Harvey!" she said. "You said no more supervillainy! You promised!"

"I had to make a show of it, my dear," the Mole Man said. He was still wearing his solid green outfit, the cape and staff, the strange glasses that protected his sensitive eyes from the light. "And no one will be harmed, no permanent damage done. Soon, the rest of the Fantastic Four will be here to rescue you, and they will have another tale to tell of a great adventure—"

Sue pouted and crossed her arms. The Invisible Girl was unhappy, and the Mole Man quickly moved to reassure her.

"But I had to get in touch with you, my dear, to draw a blood sample. You've been taking the pills I sent you? Regularly?" he asked.

"Yes," Sue Storm said with a sigh, remembering their agreement. Harvey Elder was convinced that the mood-altering spores she had been exposed to as an undergraduate held the key to controlling his mood swings. Moloid biology was too different for him to calculate the dosage correctly, and he was too erratic to experiment on himself.

Which left Sue.

She sank into a couch and let him hook her arm up to one of his machines. There was a sharp prick, and then blood flowed through a tube, to be analyzed. It all took mere moments. When it was done, he carefully bandaged the tiny puncture wound, and then poured Sue a glass of golden wine.

"Your friends will be here soon," he said. "Tell me—how do you feel, after you take the pills?"

"There's a certain—clarity," Sue said, after she took a sip. She wasn't sure what the Mole Man fermented down here to produce ****, though she suspected it was more fungi. "And a thrill of elation. Sometimes I get light-headed, giddy, and...sensitive."

Harvey swiftly copied this all down onto a pad of paper. It struck her as hilarious, at that moment. The great Mole Man, a scientist who could carve massive tunnels in the Earth and draw entire city blocks down into them, taking notes with pencil and paper. She shook her head ruefully and took another sip.

"Excellent," Mole Man said. "The active components take time to build up in the bloodstream. Like lithium and other **** used by psychologists. I suspect that if I can just get the dosage correct, I can avoid the...fits of madness that overtake me..."

Sue finished her wine. She stood up. An alarm had begun to ping. That would be the other members of the Fantastic Four, here to rescue her. She sighed, hating the deception.

"Tell me what to do to make it look good," she said.

Present

Sue Storm walked over to her bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. Harvey's latest bottle of pills, his newest formulation, waited for her. Her hand trembled with anticipation as she reached for it. Her younger self had believed him utterly. Had not understood what the true nature and purpose of the pills were. She thought that she was helping him...