Continued from last issue. General Immortus has captured the new Doom Patrol: Celsius, Negative Woman, Robotman, and Tempest. The general has hooked Celsius up to a machine called the Psycho-Probe in order to extract the knowledge of an immortality serum from her brain, as the rest of the team helplessly look on. After flexing his newly designed “muscles,” Robotman breaks out of his titanium manacles, and frees Tempest. He tells Tempest to free Negative Woman, while he takes on the general. The general’s troops protect their commander, and soon Robotman and Tempest fall again.
Celsius gives in to the Psych-Probe, which shows her past on a giant monitor. Celsius grew up as Arani, a young orphan on the streets of Calcutta. Arani falls ill, and is nursed back to health by Chief Niles Caulder, the founder of the original Doom Patrol. Niles and Arani fell in love. When Niles left India, he left Arani in the care of a monastery, while he promised to return for her.
While at the monastery, Arani learned how to read and write. She delved into the mysteries the monastery contained. The monks saw something special in Arani; a mysterious power. They helped her develop this, and she learned she could generate intense heat and cold from each hand. As the years passed, she grew into a woman, waiting for her love to return.
Niles Caulder returned, and fulfilled his vow to marry her. While away, a mysterious benefactor (actually General Immortus) had funded Caulder to develop an immortality serum. Caulder had developed the serum, but refused to share it with Immortus. However, Caulder shared with Arani as a wedding present. Arani drank the serum, becoming immortal.
Back in the present, Arani’s torture at the hands of General Immortus becomes too much for her teammates to bear. Tempest lets loose the full force of his blast, disintegrating his manacles, just as General Immortus finds the secret of the serum. With the secret, Immortus flees, leaving the Doom Patrol trapped.
Robotman smashes through the wall of General Immortus’ base, but they find themselves on the moon. The Doom Patrol grab whatever they can to prevent being sucked out of the base. Tempest welds the whole shut, while the rest of the Doom Patrol takes on the general’s troops. The serum has made the general young again, which confuses many of the troops as to who he actually is. In the confusion, Negative Woman tricks the general’s troops to fire on their own equipment, and the explosions cause a large amount of troops to leave, allowing the Doom Patrol to escape. We discover that Immortus is growing old again; the serum was specifically designed based on the DNA of the two Caulders, and it would not work for other people.
Negative Woman uses her cosmonaut training to pilot the Doom Patrol home in a shanghaied ship, just as the general’s base explodes. The Doom Patrol land, but find an intruder in their headquarters; one who is after Negative Woman.
Note: This issue contains the Hostess Superhero Ad, Wonder Woman in "Cooky La Moo On Broadway."
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