Zarkoff

There are many words to describe Zarkoff – anarchist, revolutionary, terrorist. But to Madam Menace, armourer of the underworld, that word is "client". A canny leader and schemer, Zarkoff always has an exit plan to avoid undue attention from the authorities. He wants to stand out in the field of stoking political unrest in a far off country or countries, because these days, there are too many amateurs ruining the game.

Guess they just don't make terrorists like they used to.

Fiction

Madam Menace described Zarkoff as her "favourite anarchist". She had a meeting with him on a boat out in New York Bay, where she offered him the chance to have a loyal robot army based on the mechanical arm recently supplied to her. Zarkoff expressed his interest, but before the negotiations could get very far, the rest of the robot arrived seeking retribution. Zarkoff ordered his men to take Menace out as well as the robot, and he tried to flee with the arms dealer's sample case.

Madam Menace chased Zarkoff and zapped him in the shoulder for his double cross. Knowing when to liquidate her assets, she tossed the sample case containing the arm overboard. Realising that the commotion could attract the attention of the harbour authorities, Zarkoff decided to call it a day, and he clicked the remote detonator, causing the ship to explode.

Machine Man later determined that nobody other than himself had been caught in the blast. Arms and the Robot!

Related characters

Men

Zarkoff's ship was manned by a group of fatigue-clad mercenaries armed with submachine guns. When Machine Man reached the ship, one of them sounded the alarm with a "Madre de dios!". At Zarkoff's command, they attacked the living robot and Madam Menace's henchmen. Unfortunately for them, Machine Man was having a hell of a day, and he unleashed his unfettered anger on them.

Those that hadn't already been flung overboard soon abandoned ship, as they knew the routine of Zarkoff pressing the self-destruct button. Arms and the Robot!

Notes

• It's pretty ambiguous what country Zarkoff and his men operate out of. The surname "Zarkoff" appears to be Russian in origin; one of his men says "Madre de dios!", an expression in Spanish-speaking countries; but then the rest of the mercs' dialogue is full of stilted English sentence constructions like "A demon rises from the sea to attack us!" and "We live to obey, mighty Zarkoff!" and "The unworthy ones shall die!". Maybe it's for the best they never specified a country.