Sue Storm and the Mole Man Talk

Past (Fantastic Four #22)

"Oh, Harvey, how could you?" Sue Storm said aloud. The Invisible Girl stared at the chic modern apartment that she had been dropped into. The adventure so far had been a typical Fantastic Four outing. Mysterious island—monsters—a subterranean kingdom—the threat of mutually assured destruction—and now the Fantastic Four had been separated and...

"I thought," the Mole Man said, as he stepped into the apartment. "That we might talk about that."

The Invisible Girl whirled around. He stood there, with his staff and cloak, the same squat figure who had guided her through university. He didn't look much older now than he had then. For a moment, Sue thought about using her **** fields to imprison or fight him—but he made no aggressive gesture, so instead she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Where are the others?" she said.

"Safe, for the moment. The traps I set up look dangerous, but there are numerous safeguards in place. They'll escape, each within a few minutes. So we have that much time before you, too must 'escape' and rejoin them."

Sue pouted. He was being so quiet, so reasonable now. Nothing like the posturing little megalomaniac that threatened the surface world with destruction.

"What happened to you, Harvey? Why are you doing this?" she said.

The Mole Man sighed.

"After you graduated—I realized how much I missed you. Of course, a relationship between professor and graduate assistant would have been improper, but I couldn't help developing feelings for you, my dear. So intelligent, so driven and courageous, so beautiful...and the world without you looked so ugly. Uglier, indeed. It was not long after you left that I turned my back on the surface world. There are marvels beneath the earth, Sue! Wonders and prodigies you cannot dream of! Valleys of diamonds, new life forms, ancient civilizations! I have been an explorer the likes of which the world has not seen for centuries!"

Sue pursed her lips. "So why invade the surface world? Why all this?"

Harvey sighed. He sat down on a stool, gripping his staff.

"I get...lonely. Maddeningly so, sometimes. The Moloids aren't capable of proper conversation, and the few intelligent beings in Subterranea have become my rivals. Constantly on my guard, out of contact...and from above, the incessant posturing of idiotic governments and petty despots!"

His knuckles showed white where he gripped his staff. Yet Sue understood more than he let on.

"You stopped taking your meds," she said. "You get mood swings. Is that what this is?"

The Mole Man's lips pursed.

"I've been working on an alternative. Using those spores we found. Amazing mood-altering properties," he said. "But yes, as you noted, the mood swings can be intense at times. Some days I don't want to get out of bed. Sometimes I'm awake for three days and try to conquer the surface world."

Sue sighed.

"I wish I could help you," she said, thinking of last time when she had helped him escape.

Then he smiled.

"Oh, my dear," he said softly. "You can. And in doing so, perhaps, we can avoid...unnecessary troubles in the future."

Now

Sue Storm sighed. She remembered what the Mole Man had asked of her. The price for keeping his incursions into the surface at a minimum. A price that Sue had paid, at first somewhat unwittingly...and later, with far more enthusiasm than she cared to think.