Okay tin man, I know what you came for -- a heart! Too bad no one warned you about the heartache that comes with it. 
Appearing in "Wish You Were Here"
Featured Characters:
- X-Force (Main story and flashback)
- Meltdown (Tabitha Smith) (Main story and flashback)
- Siryn (Theresa Rourke) (Main story and flashback)
- Shatterstar (Benjamin Russell) (Main story and flashback)
- Rictor (Julio Richter) (Main story and flashback)
- Cable (Nathan Summers) (Main story and flashback)
- Sunspot (Roberto Da Costa)
- Warpath (Jimmy Proudstar)
- Caliban
Supporting Characters:
- Dimitri Fortunov
- Nathaniel Richards (Main story and flashback)
Antagonists:
- Doctor Doom's Servitor guards
- S.H.I.E.L.D.
- G.W. Bridge
- Colin Muldowney (First appearance)
- Theresa Petty (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Graydon Creed (Mentioned)
- Marty Smith (Mentioned)
- Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom) (Mentioned)
- Fantastic Four (Mentioned)
- Avengers (Mentioned)
- Louis Richter (Mentioned)
- King Vladimir Fortunov (Mentioned)
- Zefiro Clan
- Lila Cheney (Mentioned)
- Puppet Master (Phillip Masters) (Mentioned)
- Sergei, Fortunov's friend (Corpse)
Races and Species:
- Mutants (Main story and flashback)
- Humans (Main story and flashback)
- Cyborgs (Main story and flashback)
- Robots (Only in flashback)
Locations:
- Earth (Main story and flashback)
- Latveria (Main story and flashback)
- Liddleville
- Castle Doom (Main story and flashback)
- Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, Salem Center, North Salem, Westchester, New York, United States (Mentioned)
- Morlock Tunnels, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States (Mentioned)
- Latveria (Main story and flashback)
Items:
- X-Uniforms (Main story and flashback)
- Banshee's Wings (Main story and flashback)
- Shatterstar's Swords (Main story and flashback)
- Doctor Doom's Time Platform
Synopsis for "Wish You Were Here"
Liddleville
Meltdown wakes up in the middle of the street of Liddleville. She feels like she was drugged and is the only one around in the town. She goes into a nearby store and still cannot find anyone. As she leaves, she notices a policeman standing there. As she tries to get his attention, she realizes that he is nothing but a mannequin. She is then met by one of the only other people around and he surprises her. She immediately reacts and kicks him to the ground. He tells her he has been stuck in the town for a week and his name is Dimitri Fortunov. He tells her that he was in Castle Doom and then woke up in this town all alone. Meltdown then remembers that she was in Castle Doom prior to her waking up in the street.
Flashback to Castle Doom
X-Force had arrived at Castle Doom to attempt to secure Doctor Doom's time platform before someone else does in his absence since he is believed to be dead since the Onslaught attack in New York. They are met by Nathaniel Richards who reveals to them that he knows the castle as he once stood in for Doctor Doom. They then enter in the lower levels.
They first come across lasers guarding the entrance. Nathaniel has Meltdown blow up their power source and they press on through the tunnels. Then, Doctor Doom's Servitors attack. X-Force quickly takes care of the first couple. Meltdown takes out a third and starts running down the hall. She then falls down a trap door and a larger Servitor awaits her at the bottom of the shaft. She then wakes up in Liddleville.
Liddleville
Meltdown then asks Dimitri why he is in Liddleville. He tells her that he is the grandson of the baron who originally owned Castle Doom and that Doom deposed him when he took over Latveria. Dimitri planned to take over Castle Doom and then use Doom's robots to help build a democracy in Latveria. They both then get into a car and Cable contacts her telepathically. He tells her to look up and she sees that Cable is a giant, hovering over the city.
Latverian Gypsy Camp
Warpath, Caliban and Sunspot stand together near a gypsy caravan. They all watch as a young gypsy girl name Sofia walks up to them and asks if they might have American music for her to listen to as Doom never allowed Western influence to come into Latveria. Warpath gives her a Lila Cheney CD. She puts it in her CD player and then is overwhelmed by a shock that knocks her to the ground.
Castle Doom
Cable and Nathaniel Richards stand above a model of a town. They realize that Doom used this same machine to put the Fantastic Four's psyches into smaller versions of themselves. They then reverse the process for Dimitri and Tabitha. As they recover, Dimitri sees that his friend who went with him to the castle was killed during the transfer and his body lies on the machine nearby.
In a nearby corridor, a team of people rush toward Cable and his team. They are looking directly for Cable and the other mutants. Meanwhile, Cable finds Doom's time platform. As he is about to dismantle the machine, the figures in the corridor show themselves to be G.W. Bridge and other S.H.I.E.L.D. members. Dimitri grabs a grenade and tells them all that he is going to destroy the platform. Theresa Petty shoots him and the grenade falls to the platform and Cable grabs it. Then a light begins to glow around them all and continues to extend outward.
Latverian Gypsy Camp
Sofia lays on the ground and is picked up by her mother, Esmeralda. Sunspot wonders if she had an epileptic spell and her mother tells him no, that she instead has the gift of prescience. When she held Warpath's CD it means she saw something in his future that was so overwhelming it knocked her out. Suddenly, Esmeralda's son, Oskar, runs up to them and tells them that Castle Doom has vanished.
Notes
- Nathaniel Richards mentions how he successfully impersonated Victor von Doom during Doom's previous absence. This was in Fantastic Four #382.
- Richards states that "Doom didn't marshal an army to take over Latveria — he simply built one." This is a slight overstatement, as shown in Books of Doom #5–6.
Trivia
- Siryn is misnamed "Theresa O'Rourke" in this issue.
See Also
Links and References
- The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators - accessed on 06/27/2010
