Fantastic Four v. 3 #12

My name is Carlo Zota. This is my story.

At a world convention of really smart scientists, I met Maris Morlak and Wladyslav Shinksi. We shared a vision of transforming the world according to our own visions and thus banded together, naming ourselves the Enclave. This was shortly before Fantastic Four v.1 #66. Together, we attained scientific genius unmatched by anyone on the planet. Well, almost anyone. Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four was clearly our better. Capable of doing anything that the fantastic plots of his comic book required, Richards could manipulate time, the dimensions, and sub-atomic particles on a whim. There were others who called themselves genius. Men such as the Thinker, the Wizard, and the Red Ghost. Clearly, however, these laughable stereotypes of vaudeville villainy were not equal to we of the Enclave. Only Richards could easily claim superiority over our combined scientific might.

Richards and perhaps one other. And this caused some contention and dissention in the ranks of the Enclave. The man called Doom was clearly a scientific marvel. He generally employed no underlings when he could do the job himself. Encased in a suit of fearsome armor, Doom could withstand any attack upon his person. He has a castle. He has servants. He has a butler named Boris who's his best buddy and a sidekick Boy Doom underling who emulates him.

This drove us quite mad. True scientists toil in silence and employ the fruits of their labors quietly to their ends. We of the Enclave sought to better the world through our leadership. So, said Von Doom, did he. And while we labored behind the scenes in silence, Doom held state dinners with Silver Sable and Henry Kissinger. Silver Sable! And we couldn't even find dates at a convention of really smart scientists, which is why we ended up banding together as the Enclave. Shinski, the eldest of us, was particularly angry with Doom, and over time became more and more obsessed with the troublesome upstart. As we Enclave usually operate behind the scenes, you didn't see this.

Eventually, Shinski developed a scheme by which to displace Von Doom and finally put the Enclave in charge of the world as we should have been. Von Doom with his chrome plating and showboat weaponry had conquered the world on two separate occassions and attained the power cosmic at least three or four times. Shinski could stand no more. Our own attempt to gain the power cosmic did not take, and we were left confused and bald in our citadel, the Beehive, which was destroyed for the twenty-seventh time upon our unexpected return. The Beehive has now taken the new design of an abstract swirl that we have dubbed "The Bob." I hesistate to think what I shall do when I run out of sixties hairdos to name my headquarters after.

Using my own expertise in electronics, I developed armor for Shinski to mirror that of Von Doom. In a jealous rage, Shinski demonstrated the armor's power by slaying Von Doom's monks in Tibet. I rather felt this was like stripping oneself naked and sticking a vibrational modulator down the throat of Black Bolt. Thus, I voiced my concerns that surely we had made ourselves rods upon which the lightning of Von Doom would quickly strike. Shinski believed Von Doom to be dead, however, and did not care for my misgivings. In fact, having recently been made fools by the Thunderbolts and Baron Zemo's use of our technology to conquer the world (something Shinski repeatedly reminded me I had failed to do), he really wasn't in the mood to listen to my input any further. Therefore, I wished him well and removed myself to a secluded island in the Pacific to produce genetically perfect hula girls from Shinski's notes.

Morlak threw in with Shinski. In fact, it was Morlak who went in to raze another world convention of really smart scientists. His desire to strut around in the Crucible armor bought about a calculated surprise, however, when he confronted Reed Richards at that convention. Using Shinski's technology to genetically decode Richards' advanced intelligence, Morlak decoded Richards' intellect and grafted it onto himself. Richards was left with his scientific memory, but unable to create anything new. Morlak eventually became intolerable by trumping Shinski at every turn, leaving Shinski jealous of his colleague. He made designs of Morlak's demise, but darenot enact them for he needed his fellow to produce results.

Those results bore fruit when Shinski and Morlak took control of Genosha and turned its people into genetic breeding stock for Shinski's experiments. Richards finally caught up with them there to retrieve his stolen intelligence. They had gained critical info on Genosha through two journalists that Shinski had taken control of through his use of genetic manipulation. Whatever became of those two, I know not, but there are carved figures on Notre Dame that I swear were not there before. Regardless, it became paramount that the synchronization of chemical emissions be trained to produce... eh?

Pardon me, I see one of my own experiments has entered a crucial stage. I leave you with my lab assistant Eduardo to conclude this tale.