The Self Made Man

Thor stood on the roof of a fifty story apartment building and looked out over the city with a protective eye. The night was calm. The Earth had no need for a Thunder God or the wind and rain that came with him. The same could not be said of the denizens of the city. They were often in need of a protector. And the God of Thunder was willing to provide that protection.

It never ceased to amaze him how fragile mortal men were. If it were not for his tenure as Dr. Don Blake, Thor might never have realized the extent of human fragility. He thought of his first mortal love: Jane Foster. She had failed to measure up to Asgardian standards. Though he had been willing to concede his godly status to join her in love, Thor realized that Odin had been right to prevent such a mismatched union. Odin had been right more times than Thor had realized.

The night air was brisk and cold. It reminded the Thunder God of home. In Asgard there was always a cool breeze, even in the heat of summer. That was the way his people preferred their weather, and the gods usually received what they preferred.

Thor stepped to the rim of the roof and stood there with his hands at his sides. In one massive fist he held Mjolnir, the Weapon of Weapons. He raised it before his face and savored its gray brutality. Such a weapon spawned a lust in Thor for battle. Perhaps with some new enemy of mankind. There was no denying that battle was his nature, his job and his joy.

A feeling of deja vu swept over the Thunder God. He accessed the origin of the mood and remembered another time he had stood such, anticipating danger and the execution of duty. It had been in the mist of worlds just before he had answered the plea of Hercules. The Prince of Power had been entrapped by Pluto, Greek God of the Underworld, and unable to lift a hand to free himself, Hercules had called out blindly for help. And Thor, though at the time he was unfriendly to Hercules, had answered the call. Always the son of Odin answered that call to duty.

A scream rang in his ears. Thor looked up into the night sky and saw a figure hurtling toward the earth. With a quick spin of his hammer, the Thunder God launched himself into the air and caught the man as he fell. The mortal was almost hysterical with fear, and clutched to Thor's neck with a maniac�s strength. Thor alighted on the roof he had just been on and held the man out at arm's length.

"How did you come to fall?" boomed the Thunder God.

The man gibbered a bit and pointed up into the sky. "Let me go. I have to escape or he'll get me again," squealed the mortal. He tried to jerk away from Thor's steel grip.

"Who will get you again?" demanded Thor.

"I don't now who he is. He wants to kill me," screeched the mortal. He was a scruffy looking man with old, unwashed clothes and a smell of booze on his breath. "You're Thor, an Avenger. You have to save me."

Thor felt the rustle of wind behind him. Whirling he faced a black clothed figure hovering in the air beyond the rim of the roof. A pair of black eyes stared out from a pale face. Thor stepped in front of the mortal in an automatic gesture of protection.

"No one will save you," hissed the man in black. "Filth like you don't deserve to live."

"Tis not for you to decide," said Thor. He took a step toward the strange man. "I will not tolerate murder."

The flying man regarded Thor with a frown. "Your toleration is not necessary. Its insignificant. Stand aside and let justice be served."

"Letting a man fall to his death is not the way that justice is served," replied the Thunder God. The man he was protecting shrank against the wall.

"Oh, god, keep him away from me. He's crazy," he said as he slipped from behind the Thunder God. "He wants to kill me. He let me fall."

The flying man darted swiftly at his victim. One step placed Thor in between them, which brought the flying man up short.

"One last warning. Get out of my way," growled the flier.

"No,� said the Thunder God grimly. The flyer grimaced and shook his head. Then he dove for the Thunder God with the intention of slamming into him with two outstretched fists. Thor swept his hammer across his body and brushed the flyer away. The flier tumbled in mid air with a loud 'ouch'. He turned with the grace of a gymnast and came at Thor again. And again, he was met with the stone hardness of Mjolnir.

Hovering twenty feet above Thor, the flyer shoot twin beams of power at the concrete roof Thor was standing on. It seared through the concrete and took Thor's platform out from under him. To keep from falling, the Thunder God whirled his hammer over his head while his other hand caught the whimpering bum. Like a streak of light, the flier was on Thor again. This time his fists impacted on the Asgardian's chest, knocking both Thor and the bum back into the small brick doorway behind them. Thor's massive body broke the bricks and showered the area with mortar and masonry. The flier crashed into the Thunder God, ramming his foot into Thor's face, while using both hands on Thor's one arm in an effort to pry the bum loose. There was superhuman power in the flier's body and even the Thunder God was pressed to resist the pull on his arm. As all three rolled on the roof, Thor let Mjolnir's strap slip over his wrist and he reached across and grabbed the flier with his other arm. They wrestled for a minute. The mortal was tossed out of the fight. Thor grappled in earnest with the flier. Soon they rolled to the edge of the roof, broke through the short retaining wall and fell out into free space. Here the flying power of his antagonist, kept Thor from falling as the Thunder God continued to strive for a decisive hold on his foe. Thor was surprised at the quality of his opponent's strength. While not a match for his own, combined with a slippery suppleness of his body, it was enough to match the Odinson's centuries old skill at grappling. Suddenly, Thor's head was encased in steel and his air was cut off. Somehow his opponent had materialized a sheet of metal around his head. Instinctively, Thor reached for his encased head and let go of the flier. It took only a moment to tear away the steel sheathing , but in that moment the flier streaked back and caught the mortal. Thor lost valuable time as he spun Mjolnir around to keep from falling.

The flier picked up the mortal with one hand wrapped in the front of his coat and flew away at an alarming speed. With a toss of his hammer, Thor followed. They arched across the night sky until the flier landed on a grassy slope outside the city. It had taken them less than a second to travel many miles. The mortal was unconscious from the tremendous pressure and lack of oxygen resulting from the speed of their traveling. The flier let him crumple to the ground as Thor came hurtling down.

"I thought we'd take our disagreement away from innocent lives, Thor. I had not intended for this filth to die from the fall. It was only to terrorize him. I have something much more horrible for him in mind. And there's nothing you can do to prevent that," said the flier.

"Who are you?" asked the Asgardian. "You seem much like an Eternal, yet I know you not."

The flier laughed. "I'm no Eternal. They are born to their power like eagles born to fly. I am a self made man. All the power I have I created in myself. Power to see people like this rapist punished. And you can't stop me."

"You underestimate the power of Thor. Stop you I shall," said the Thunder God grimly. He drew back his hammer to hurl at the self made man. With blinding speed, the flier was on the Odinson again. This time he caught Thor before he could swing Mjolnir. Both his hands took hold of the arm wielding the hammer, and twisting in the air, he tried to spin the Thunder God off his feet. He might as well have tried to move a mountain. Thor smashed his fist into the flier's back, then muscled his opponent to the ground. One massive forearm lead piped the flier in the face and pried him lose of the arm wielding Mjolnir. Brutally, Thor pressed the self made man's head to the ground and raised his hammer above his head for the finishing blow.

Living power erupted from the flier's eyes and burned a wound across Thor's face. The Odinson was forced to block the beam with Mjolnir before it reached his own eyes. The mystic hammer began to absorb the beams and burned brightly as it grew hotter and hotter . In an attempt to break free of the eye beams, Thor kicked the flier in the ribs savagely. There was a dull cracking sound as a few of them broke. The flier bolted from the fight and zoomed high in the sky.

Thor ignored the searing pain from his burn wound and soared up after his foe. As he approached the self made man, he noticed that his opponent had stopped and was staring at him. There was an odd tingling throughout his body; something akin to magic yet different. A wave of nausea swept over Thor, and he nearly vomited. Grimly he set his mind on his enemy and brought himself together with a supreme effort. Hammer first, he flew at the self made man and missed as the flier slipped out of the way.

Still a little ill, Thor paused several hundred feet above the earth to clear his head. When he looked downward he saw the self made man huddled over the mortal. Blinking rapidly to see so far away, Thor noticed that the mortal's legs were being transformed into strings of slimy flesh. They looked something like a worm's flesh. Shocked and enraged, the Odinson hurled his hammer at the self made man. Mighty Mjolnir nearly broke the sound barrier as it rocketed toward the flier. Thor had cast it in an underhanded arcing motion, hoping that it would knock the self made man off the mortal, rather than crash the flier into the mortal which would probably result in the mortal's death. Mjolnir hit the preoccupied flier, picked him up and carried him nearly a mile away until it buried him in a wooded hill.

Mjolnir raced back to Thor before he hit the ground. As he had seen from the sky, the mortal had been altered from the hips down. He was writhing on the grass in hideous pain, but even drawing on the medical knowledge of his former mortal identity there was nothing the Thunder God could do. It was not a magical spell. Thor surmised that it was something akin to the molecular alteration power of a being like Sersi, the Eternal. Despite his claims to the contrary, Thor suspected that his foe was of Eternal blood.

Thor left the mortal and sought out his foe. He found the shattered hill. Several small trees had been knocked down and many boulders had been broken. The grass was spewed all over the area in thick clumps of sod. Try as he may, the Odinson could find nothing of his enemy. All he could find was a torn wallet. Inside it was a few cards; one of them was a drivers license. It might belong to the self made man; or maybe it didn't. Time would tell.

His body was useless. That was not a new condition for Sawyer. What he had left, what he always had left, was his mind. Drawing on the enormous strength of will he had developed during his lifetime, Sawyer performed one last operation before he succumbed to unconsciousness. He altered his form; his crushed human body metamorphized into a crumbled rock, no different than the other rocks scattered about the hill. He drifted in a sleepy state of mind, just barely knowledgeable of his surroundings. Time passed. When he was certain that Thor was not around, he reverted back to his human form.

The pain was unimportant. Guided by his biomedical expertise, he implemented the Power Cosmic to mend and regenerate his broken body. It didn't take long. He was familiar with all the functions and structures of the human body. Within ten minutes his body was whole again.

Sawyer rose to his feet. How wonderful such a simple movement was. Opening his arms he lifted into the sky and flew home.

Thor had not turned over the wallet to the police. This was not a matter for normal law enforcement agencies. He read the name and address on the driver's license. Gladden Sawyer, 244 Stone Ford Road. He would continue his investigation of this matter there. Since he had not found any trace of the flier, he assumed he had escaped from his hammer unharmed. If that were true he might attempt a second attack on Gravin. Since Thor could not be in two places at once, it occurred to him that he should call the Avengers for help on this matter. It would not be good if Sawyer, if that was his name, attacked Gravin again while Thor was off at Stone Ford Road. However, upon further reflection on the matter, the Odinson decided that Sawyer would probably not attack Gravin while he was being so publicly attended. Police protection might be enough.

Thor whirled his massive hammer over his head and shot off into the sky. The sun was just beginning to rise as he sped across the city toward the suburbs where Stone Ford Road was. It took some time to locate number 244 but by about 7 O'clock in the morning he was successful. Standing on the concrete walkway leading up to the large house, Thor felt a little out of place. A god in the absence of worship among ordinary mortals was often a trifle embarrassing. To walk up to a simple door and knock like the paperboy or someone else was not something Thor did often. In moments like this he regretted the loss of his Don Blake identity. It was his tenure as a mortal that broadened his perspective to the point where he could feel uncomfortable among ordinary mortals. Before he had experienced Blake's mortal life, the Thunder God would never have known such embarrassment in his godly pride. He had thought that as the God of Thunder it was his right to go where he wanted and ask of mortals what he needed. Now, having been a mortal, he was not so sure of that divine right.

With a job to do, Thor knocked gently on the door. It was quickly answered by a middle-aged woman of pleasant appearance. Opening the door about a foot, she peered up at the Thunder God with a surprised smile.

"Why, you're Thor, aren't you?" she asked. "Who else could it be. After all, its not Halloween yet and trick or treaters never come in the morning anyway."

"I am Thor. May I ask if Gladden Sawyer is at home?" said the Thunder God with a smile. He was glad he had tucked Mjolnir into his golden belt before knocking.

"Gladden? I don't know. He usually is. Would you care to wait while I look and see?" she asked politely.

"Yes, of course," replied the Odinson.

She was gone only a few minutes. Thor heard her calling for Sawyer, but there was no reply. When she returned she was shaking her head negatively.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Thor. Gladden isn't home."

"Is that normal?"

"It never used to be. But since he's been able to get up and move around, he stays away for days at a time. Not always, just when something takes his interest. Gladden is interested in a lot of things," replied the woman.

Thor held up Sawyer's driving licenses. She squinted at it and frowned. "Is something the matter?"

"I found his driver's license and wanted to return it."

"I wasn't aware he had one, Mr. Thor. Gladden never learned to drive as far as I know. Of course he could do it in an instant if he wanted to. Its just that I never knew he was interested," replied the woman.

Not interested in learning how to drive; that was a peculiar statement.

"Are you Mrs. Sawyer?" asked the Thunder God.

"Me! Oh, heavens no. I'm Gladden's sister, Mary. I'm not married. I guess that still makes me Miss Sawyer. I don't see the need for that Ms nonsense," she replied.

"I never understood it either, Miss Sawyer. Do you think Gladden will return shortly?"

"I don't know. Listen, there's no need for you to stand outside like this. It will only spark gossip among my few neighbors. Would you like to come in for some coffee? I suppose I can trust a member of the Avengers."

Thor hesitated. Gladden Sawyer might not even be the man he was looking for. Perhaps he had wasted enough of this woman's time.

"I just put on a fresh pot. Do come in, Mr. Thor. Its very good coffee," invited Mary.

It did smell good. Now that she had mentioned it, Thor's sharp Asgardian senses picked up the aroma of coffee from inside the house. The part of him that was still Don Blake urged the Odinson to accept the woman's offer. So he did.

Mary Sawyer kept a clean and orderly house. The kitchen was spotless. She sat him down at the small table and finished preparing the coffee. She was easy to talk to; there were few pretensions about her, and she was anything but timid. Thor turned the tide of conversation to her brother in the hope that he would learn something about the man.

"Gladden is a remarkable man, Mr. Thor. I am very proud of him. He has come such a distance in his life. His beginnings were without hope. All God gave him was a great mind. And with it he accomplished so much," explained Mary when she was asked what she thought of her brother.

Mary Sawyer spoke freely about her brother. He was a biomedical scientist. Much of his research had helped further advances in cellular regeneration and other medical areas. There was even some hope that he might solve the mystery of cancer. All of his work was done at home, because he was a reclusive man. Mary was certain he was very respected by his peers. Some of them had stopped by from time to time to discuss Gladden's work. When her brother needed lab assistance, he turned to Mary who was trained in that area.

He didn't sound like a man bent on murdering another human being. Nor did he sound like he as an Eternal. After their coffee, Mary led the Thunder God back to the front door. On the way Thor noticed an odd picture on the mantelpiece above their fireplace.

"Oh, that is the man we're talking about," said Mary, "that is my brother Gladden."

It was the picture of a quadriplegic. A man with a large, handsome head and a small body without arms and legs. As disturbing as the sight of a man with such a severe handicap was; even more disturbing was the man's face. It was the face of the flier!

Below in the streets things were beginning to stir. His neighbors were leaving their houses and going to work. Few of them looked up, but in the chance that any would, Sawyer soared up another one thousand feet.

"Well," admitted Mary, "he's not that handicapped anymore. You see it has been a driving passion for Gladden to achieve the normalcy that other men have. He has devoted the fifty years of his life to gaining that normality. In his case that meant real arms and legs. Some of his other projects have been successful to a limited degree. He invented a pair of bionic limbs ten years ago. He was unsatisfied with them. Not normal enough. What he wanted were real arms and legs. So he worked harder.

"Eventually his mastery of cellular regeneration and molecular genetics led him to success. And along the way he discovered things that will be useful to society. Some of his inventions have led to a moderate amount of wealth for us. We have been very happy recently."

Thor nodded. His mood became more solemn.

"Mr. Thor, I think you've come here with more in mind than returning Gladden's driver's license. Something must be wrong. Has Gladden gotten into trouble?" she asked.

The Thunder God was uncertain whether he should be frank with her. She had been honest with him so he decided to return that honesty.

"Miss Sawyer, there is a man lying in a local hospital. His legs have been hideously altered into something alien. I have reason to believe that your brother may be involved. I think I saw him at the scene of the crime. If he was involved, that man needs his help to recover."

Mary raised her hands to her face, her eyes widen and she gasped in shock. "What is this man's name?"

"Gravin. Have you heard of him?" answered Thor.

"Oh, my God," she muttered. "Not him, after all these years. Poor Gladden."

Thor placed his large hand on Mary's shoulder. "You must help me, Mary. To stop this before it goes any further."

He listened as Mary Sawyer told him what she knew.

"Hi, Mary," he said with a smile. "Are you going out?"

"Oh, Gladden, what have you done?" she said. Crossing the room she grabbed her brother by his wide shoulders. There was sorrow and guilt in her eyes.

"Done, Mary? What do you mean?"

"You know. Thomas Gravin is in the hospital. Someone changed his legs into worms. Why did you do it? What he did to me happened a long time ago."

"I will never forget, Mary. That bastard raped you. I'll never forget. He'll pay; believe me he'll pay dearly," growled Gladden.

Images stormed in his mind. A young man, born without arms and legs, forced to watch an intruder rape his beloved sister and nurse. And forced to listen to the mocking laughter and filthy language the rapist had used. There was only one man in the world that Gladden Sawyer hated. And for that man his hatred was total.

"Its over. I'm over it. You have to get over it. Its not enough that you healed your body, Glad, you have to heal your mind." She shook him a bit with surprising strength. "No one will ever do that to me again. You know that."

"He hasn't suffered enough," insisted Sawyer.

"I think he has, Glad." She turned and went to the door.

"Where are you going?" Gladden whispered the question.

"To the hospital. To see what I can do about Mr. Gravin."

"Are you insane? I won't let you. You can't go," shouted Sawyer as he placed himself between her and the door.

Mary's face became puzzled. "Are you telling me what I can or cannot do, Gladden?"

"You can't go," stammered Sawyer. He spread his arms out across the door.

"Glad, get out of my way. Now!," she said softly. Her brother was trembling. In many ways he was such a child. All those years spent alone and isolated from others.

"Gladden, you cannot govern me or stop me from doing what I think is right. That is not the nature of our relationship. Please, get out of my way," she said again.

Sawyer crumbled. He stepped aside.

Before she left, Mary smiled at him sadly. "We'll work this out. Don't worry."

This time the Thunder God was waiting for him. His mighty hammer propelled him toward the flier on an unerring intercept course. He confronted Sawyer in the air above the hospital.

"Go no further unless you intend to correct the crime you have committed," warned the God of Thunder.

"I intend to complete it. Get out of my way," retorted Sawyer. His eyes lit up with the fire of the Power Cosmic.

"Nay, you will not. No matter how much this man has affronted you, it is not your place to punish him. Leave that to mortal law," advised Thor.

"The law failed to punish him twenty years ago, and it will fail again. I do not intend to fail," said Sawyer as he fired twin beams of fire at the Avenger. Thor caught them with his hammer and bent them away. His volcanic eyes reflected red from the fire beams as they stared at Sawyer over the head of his hammer.

Thor whirled Mjolnir above his head to keep from falling, then released it at Sawyer. Having felt the brutal power of the hammer before, Sawyer went evasive. Mjolnir chased him across the mid morning sky away from the hospital. Thor landed on the concrete roof as he watched Sawyer flee. As fast as Sawyer was, Mjolnir was faster; eventually it hit him and sent him crashing to the street below. This time Sawyer rolled with the blow and was only stunned. Mjolnir returned to its master.

Thor alighted near his recovering foe. Sawyer had shaken off the blow from Thor's hammer and was rising to his feet. The Thunder God held out his massive arms and stood on widely braced legs.

"Stop this madness, Sawyer. You cannot pass me. Cool your flaming anger before this incident goes any further," commanded Thor.

"Madness? What do you know of my madness? Or of my anger? I have explained that this man has done a terrible wrong. Is it madness to seek justice? Is it madness to avenge a great wrong done to my family? What does an Avenger say?" retorted the Self Made man.

Thor lowered his arms and fixed his iceblue gaze on Sawyer. "It is the policy and meaning of the Avengers to do what cannot be done by others. We avenge by standing up for people, places and things that are assaulted by superhuman forces beyond their comprehension or strength. We do not deal in vengeance."

Gladden Sawyer, the Self Made Man, fixed his penetrating vision on Thor's molecular structure. Everything that Thor was, right down to his atoms, was revealed to Sawyer. Again, he saw the strange energy that curled around his atoms, penetrating their structure and enhancing the functions of his body. Sawyer was intimately familiar with nearly all the functions of the human body. This was one of the elements of his ability to transmute living flesh. The problem was that Thor was much more than human. Far more complicated. Sawyer would need a lot of study time to figure out how to manipulate Thor's molecular structure, if he could do it at all.

Since transmution was his only edge against the Thunder God, and that was presently ineffective, Sawyer saw little chance of victory. And there was small probability that he could even pass the Asgardian.

"What about justice?" asked Sawyer softly.

"In the hands of the people. The peers of the accused," replied Thor.

"Okay, Thunder God, we'll do it your way. No more useless fighting," conceded Sawyer.

"Will you return the victim to normalcy?" asked Thor.

Sawyer cringed at that question. He certainly didn't want to do so.

"Let me talk to my sister first," said the Self Made Man.

"Agreed!" boomed Thor.

"Oh, Glad, what did you do to that poor man?" she cried when she saw her brother.

"I admit to nothing, Mary. Not in front of witnesses. Think of the legal implications of your question. And its answer," replied Sawyer.

"Legal implications? Is that important? I saw what you did to that man. Its horrible. No one should be punished like that. His lower body is some slimy corrupt thing. And he's in pain."

"It reflects his corrupt soul, Mary," said Sawyer.

"Who are you to speak of souls? Are you God? Have you forgotten God, Gladden?" asked his sister. She stepped up to him and peered into his eyes. "If you have forgotten God, then you have given up your humanity, Gladden. Have things gone that far?"

Sawyer turned his face away from her stare. He had acquired so much power recently. After a lifetime of being a basket case, it had overwhelmed him. There were so many things he could do now; and without the aid of someone else. All his life, as a person without arms and legs, he had required assistance in the most mundane daily activities. Nurses, his parents, and his beloved sister had been that assistance. And for that he was grateful.

When he had given himself the Power, after years of research and a bit of luck, he had thought of assisting others. As Mary pointed out so bitterly, that was not what he was doing.

"I have not forgotten God, Mary. My life has been a hard one. Very hard," whispered the Self Made Man.

She drew him close and hugged him. "I know, Glad. I know. But if God gave you such hardship, he also gave you wonderful abilities. And you have won the prize. Let your suffering be over. Don't blemish your struggles with something horrible like this."

Thor backed away from their conversation. He had remained because he wasn't sure what this superhuman being was going to do next. It was refreshing to hear the woman speak so nobly. And her brother was responding.

Mary was crying now. Sawyer knew it was for him. Often he had heard her crying as he was growing up. His condition had always saddened her and pained her. Poor little boy without arms and legs.

"Okay, Mary. I understand. I don't want you to be unhappy. Wait here. I'll fix everything," Sawyer said. He brushed back her hair and stepped around her. A quick glance at Thor drew an understanding nod from the Thunder God. Sawyer went into Gravin's room.

His victim was attached tubes. His sheets were wet and filmy from the slime that oozed from his lower body. He was conscious, though he mumbled from the pain that even morphine couldn't blunt. Sawyer was revolted by the existence of this creature. And he was revolted at how like Gravin he had become.

The Self Made Man looked into Gravin's structure. Using the Power Cosmic he manipulated atoms and molecules until the man was entirely human again. He left Graven lying in the slime that was once his.

Outside the room, he addressed Thor and his sister, "Its done. Everything back to normal. I admit to doing nothing. If the law has a problem with me it will have to dig up its own evidence."

Thor said nothing. What Sawyer had done to Gravin was outside normal law. Unless Gravin pressed charges there would be no problem. Sawyer was right anyway: there was little evidence other than hearsay to tie the crime to the Self Made Man. Thor hoped some ambitious District Attorney wouldn't try to make a case.

"I want to thank you, Thor. For stopping me from doing something I would regret all my life," said Sawyer.

"You are welcome, Self Made Man." The Thunder God accepted Sawyer's handshake.

"Lets go home, Mary. I guess we'll take the car," said Sawyer.

Mary was nearly done with her weekly dusting. All but that little spot on the chandler in the dining room. It hung ten feet above the floor. Mary's feet left the hardwood floor as she drifted up and dusted the crystal piece. She prided herself on keeping a clean house.

The End

copyright by Rod Hunsicker 12-22-1997
Do not archive without permission.
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