

Victor returned to his native Europe where he founded a Permanent Autonomous Zone (PAZ), also known as the Keep or the Free zone, in Copenhagen. Victor found himself transformed into a mechanical form, reminiscent of the armors of his Wallachian heritage. The machine transported Van Damme, Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm across the world, physically changing them. As the final construction of Reed's full-sized N-Zone transporter neared, Victor came to believe Richards' super-position calculations were faulty and changed the settings just before the test.

Over the next five years, the two formed a loose partnership. Taught by his father that most others were beneath him, Victor rarely even spoke to his fellow students for four years until, needing the help from Reed Richards with his robotic designs, he broke into Reed's room and showed him how to correct his physics calculations. Around age twelve, Victor was brought to America and began studying at the Baxter Building, an American think-tank for genius children. Those who settled in Belgium married into the Van Damme family. On Victor's tenth birthday, his father revealed to him that he was descended from Vlad Tepes Dracula, whose descendants were scattered across Europe.
