Old Mentat

## Origin

Old Mentat is a version of Mentat pulled from an alternate Earth at the behest of the Time Wizard. On that planet, the Time Wizard successfully conquered the world with the aid of fallen heroes like Mentat and gave the man complete control over Russia as a reward for his aid. He changed the country completely to a "pure communist state" where his psionic agents brutally crushed anyone he deemed corrupt; it was a Marxist utopia where the constant threat of the thought police hung over the populace's head. He was a mostly benevolent ruler, though he tolerated no dissent and took great pleasure in exacting his revenge on the same doctors that originally put him through torturous experimentation on behalf of the KGB's super-spy program.

After coming to Earth Prime to assist the Time Wizard's schemes yet again, Old Mentat took the identity of Dream Girl, an innocent and bumbling young psychic super-villainess. Using this persona, he infiltrated a number of super-villain organizations, including the Temeraire Club, in order to manipulate their members into schemes designed to get them captured and therefore remove them as a threat to the Time Wizard's plans.

Old Mentat was killed when, after being rendered unconscious in a fight with the Contenders, his body was consumed to revivify the Gorgon, whose cells were hibernating inside him.

After his death, Old Mentat's soul was headed to perdition when he was intercepted by the Spectre. She revealed to him that his entire world (an alternate timeline's Earth) had been destroyed when the Time Wizard had allowed the dimension to collapse. This resulted in the deaths of all inhabitants, whose souls now wandered Purgatory. Old Mentat was staggered, having had no idea that his dimension had come to an end, and was outraged at the Time Wizard's casual genocide of his Earth. The Spectre offered him a deal: she would personally lead all the billions of souls out of Purgatory and sort them into their appropriate afterlives, but in exchange Old Mentat must switch sides and help prevent the Time Wizard from ever committing such an act again. He readily agreed, and after the Time Wizard returned him to life, he immediately began to clandestinely aid the Contenders in planning their assault on the villain.

In the final battle, he swapped sides entirely, fighting against the Time Wizard and his minions directly. Afterward, he laid low with the Contenders at their base, assisting as requested but mostly keeping out of trouble. He was badly injured by an electrical attack during the events of the Blackout, and shortly after his recovery he slipped away from the base while the Contenders were occupied elsewhere. His current status is unknown.

## Appearance

Old Mentat is a tall, thin Caucasian man of advanced age with greying hair and a thick beard. He has an artificial arm of high-tech design. He wears simple Russian army fatigues.

As "Dream Girl," he appeared slightly different to each viewer, using his empathic abilities to project an attractive young woman tailored to the viewer's ideals.

## Personality

Old Mentat, despite being an avowed super-villain, is a more mellowed and temperate version of his younger Earth Prime doppelganger. Self-assured and willing to take charge, he has grown content thanks to the revenge he was able to exact on those he felt had wronged him.

Despite his relatively staid nature, however, Old Mentat is far more callous and cruel than the original ever was. He is brutal, even by the standards of dictators, and is always willing to get his own hands dirty when it comes to crushing both political dissenters and interfering super heroes.

## Powers

Old Mentat is an even more potent psionic than the original, with nearly identical powers and the benefits of decades of further experience and experimentation. He demonstrated the ability to mentally control large numbers of individuals at a time, and also had an advanced capacity for creating mental illusions in multiple onlookers simultaneously.

Conversely, Old Mentat, due to his divergent timeline, did not acquire the Endstone and so does not have any of its unique abilities.

## Weaknesses

Old Mentat has a more advanced amygdala implant than was originally designed by the KGB, but this device still makes him quite vulnerable to electric attacks. Despite being in relative health, he shows his age as well, and is not as physically fit as the younger Mentat of Earth prime.