Chemistro! * Story reprinted and revised from Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #12
Spider-Man and Luke Cage are fighting on a rooftop when the story shifts to a lady in the crowd, Annabelle Crawford. She spent her entire lunch watching so now she needs to get back to her office. When she arrives at her office she is greeted by Chemistro the Master of Alchemy. Chemistro turns the floor into glass which causes it to break under the weight of Annabelle. She plunges to the floor below along with all those glass shards.
Luke arrives at the clinic run by Dr. Burstein and Dr. Claire Temple to see a mass of people. They are there to see the lady who fell through the floor, Annabelle. Annabelle has been asking to see Luke Cage, Power Man and she tells him that Chemistro did this to her. Her boss, Horace Claymore the President of Mainstream Motors, says he will pay Luke to catch Chemistro.
In another part of town we find out that Chemistro formerly worked for Mainstream Motors before he became disgruntled. His name is Curtis Carr and he actually made his alchemy gun while on company time.
Luke is investigating the case when he finds out from a chemist that the glass floor turned to dust when exposed to heat. The alchemy gun makes things unstable.
In the Mainstream Motor board room meeting they are discussing Luke and whether they should share their knowledge about who Chemistro is. Chemistro breaks into the board room and starts talking about his blackmail plan when Luke Cage arrives. The two men fight until Chemistro transforms a doorway into a phosphorus, which ignites at room temperature. Chemistro is able to easily escape.
When Luke makes it back to his office he finds the investigative reporter, Fox, in his chair. Fox has done some investigating into Luke’s past and discovered that he’s an ex-con. Now he’s trying to blackmail Luke into robbing a bank, but Luke was never a criminal so he forcefully declines.
3 days later at a test track in New Jersey Mainstream Motors is showing off prototype cars. One of the cars is hit with a ray and starts melting, but the driver has steel skin. Luke gives chase to Chemistro. The two men fight and during the battle Chemistro shoot his own foot turning it to steel. He is able to kick Mr. Cage with it but once his foot heats up, it turns to dust. Now Luke is able to easily apprehend Chemistro.
-Ron C.
