Barry Witherspoon
Barry Witherspoon is a victim of circumstance. Out of work for almost a year, he's had to turn to becoming a human test subject in order to provide his family. When an experiment turns him into a highly suggestible, bulletproof, unstoppable force, he also has the misfortune of being in front of a pair of ne'er-do-wells, who put him to work robbing vaults as an impostor Machine Man. Now, he's sent on plenty of jobs, and the cash flow is bountiful... but Witherspoon is completely unaware and unwilling of his participation.
Fiction
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Unemployed for almost a year, Barry Witherspoon became a test subject. His wife, Gloria, tried to convince Barry to change his mind before she tearfully took their kids away from watching their father become a lab rat.
Dr Hiram R. Goldsmith's experiment was to siphon mass from other dimensions and saturate a human being with it. On some level, it worked, as Witherspoon was painfully bombarded with extra-dimensional mass. What went wrong was the explosive force that almost wrecked the entire laboratory. Once the process was finished, Hiram was injured, and Witherspoon was entirely entranced and dense enough to rip through brick walls like they were made of paper. Hiram entrusted his brother Archie and Fred Greenfield with sonic amplifiers to communicate with Witherspoon, and in so doing, they discovered he was completely obedient to their commands.
Archie and Fred were under orders from Miles Brickman to discredit Machine Man. They dressed Witherspoon up as the living robot and instructed him to break into a Wall Street vault, netting them bundles of cash and dragging Machine Man's name through the mud. Later that night, they had Witherspoon break into a Midtown jewellery store, where he was caught by the real Machine Man. On Archie's orders, Witherspoon beat Machine Man down, leaving him for the police to find at the crime scene.
Witherspoon was ordered to rob another vault the following night, despite Machine Man having handed himself into custody, tipping the police off to the existence of an impostor. As Archie felt their luck was running out, Fred turned on him, setting Witherspoon after him. Archie fled to find Machine Man at Peter Spaulding's apartment. The two Machine Men fought, with the bout ending when Witherspoon took them both through the window – Witherspoon crashing down through the pavement while Machine Man cancelled his gravity and floated safely above.
Machine Man followed Witherspoon through the sewers to Fred and the getaway van, where he discovered that the high pitch frequency he'd been detecting was from the device being used to control Witherspoon. In the ensuing fight, Witherspoon nearly crushed Machine Man's head underfoot, but Machine Man grabbed the sonic amplifiers from Fred and told Witherspoon to stand down.
After Fred was behind bars, Machine Man had his old acquaintance Dr Oliver Broadhurst reverse the process on Witherspoon, restoring his regular density and bringing him back to his senses. Witherspoon, still dressed as Machine Man, reunited with his loving family. The Man Who Could Walk Through Walls
