File:Fantastic Four Vol 1 181 001.jpg

Description
Annihilus swoops down at Reed Richards, but for some reason he does not attempt to kill him. Forgetting briefly that his stretching power is gone, Reed tries to counterattack. Then he realizes that Annihilus's Cosmic Control Rod must be gone or malfunctioning. Otherwise, he muses, Annihilus would already have destroyed him. When he takes a swing at Annihilus with a firebrand, the winged evildoer in turn deduces that Reed has lost his own power. This, be declares, makes Reed useless. Reed asks why, and Annihilus replies that he needs his help. Both the Negative Zone and Reed's own cosmos, says Annihilus, are in mortal danger. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard helps Ben and Tigra out of the East River after their battle against the metallic robot. The captain of the boat onto whose deck Ben and Tigra clamber asks Ben where the creature came from, but Ben has no idea. Then the captain asks him to help haul it out of the water. A net is soon readied and winched into the river. At the same time, back at the Baxter Building, a bulletin informs Thundra and the Impossible Man—who are both still glued to the Fantastic Four's television—of the battle against the robot. Quickly, the Impossible Man changes into a green-and-purple version of the Fantasticar, and he and Thundra fly to the Coast Guard's salvage operation. By the time they arrive, Ben has the robot pulled to the surface in the net. Thundra starts to flirt with him, and then the net suddenly tears apart, spilling the robot back into the water. The captain notes that the heavy creature remains afloat, probably because of a "built in buoyancy factor." When Ben complains that now he will not receive his reward money and Reed will not be able to study the robot in his lab, the Impossible Man cheerfully offers to help. Since the net is not strong enough to hold the robot, he changes himself into a superstrong cable, slides over a pulley, and ties himself to the load. Then the Thing and Thundra haul the automaton onto the deck. Back at the Baxter Building, Sue quietly heads for the Negative Zone scanner room to learn whether the man who claims to be her husband is the real Reed Richards or, as she suspects, the evil Reed Richards of Counter-Earth. But he suddenly stops her at the door, saying that he needed some fresh air. When he apologizes for being so restless all evening, Sue replies that she has been upset herself and that she arose for a glass of milk. When he kisses her she becomes virtually certain that he is not her husband, and he in turn senses her suspicion and muses that, like it or not, he will soon have to kill her along with the others. Troubled, Sue hastily departs, saying that she has to go to Alicia's place to look in on Franklin. Sue hails a cab and tells the garrulous driver to go to West 73rd Street. On the way, he remarks that she looks familiar. He has had all the "biggies" in his cab, he continues, such as Major Beame, John Lemon, and Ed O'Sunivan. Sue is far too preoccupied to pay attention to his idle chatter, and when she lapses briefly into invisibility, the cabbie is so startled that he nearly crashes. A few minutes later, he drops her off at Alicia's, where she asks him to wait. If she is not back in a few minutes, she says, he can drive on. Alicia lets her in, shows her Franklin sleeping peacefully, and asks her what is the matter. As she fixes coffee, Sue tells her about the Fantastic Four's recent battle against the Frightful Four. She is convinced, she says, that the Counter-Earth Reed is masquerading as her husband. Suddenly a glowing aura appears in the room, and Agatha Harkness materializes. Sue asks how she has been since she stopped being Franklin's governess, but Agatha replies that she has no time to talk. She quickly walks to Franklin's bed and picks him up, saying that she has come for him. Sue panics and erects a force field around the boy, but Agatha, saying that she regrets having no time to explain, utters a spell and blows Sue over with a brief, intense blast of wind. Then she and Franklin vanish. Sue and Alicia rush outside, where they find the cabbie still waiting. "When you say wait, lady, I wait" he says. noting that he also left the meter running. Quickly, Sue returns to the Baxter Building, and soon she is headed in the Fantasticar toward Whisper Hill. The Human Torch, meanwhile, is aloft near Washington Square Park, wondering about Frankie Ray's phobia against dating a flaming super hero. As he descends to a park bench, Frankie herself, accompanied by Alan, her date for the evening approaches. Alan walks a short distance away so they can talk, and Johnny asks her what is wrong. She bristles, telling him he has no claim on her. She simply cannot stand fire, she says. As she departs, Johnny decides he has to find out just why fire traumatizes her so much. Back at the dock, the Army notifies the Thing that they must take possession of the robot. Nothing doing, replies Ben. He and his companions defeated it, he continues, and they will take it to their headquarters for Reed to study. At this the troops open fire, and Ben and Thundra start smashing the tanks. The melee comes to a halt when a police officer informs everyone that the robot was not breaking into the bank but was breaking out. Evidently, he says, the robot was in one of the bank's huge safe-deposit boxes and for some reason came to life. At this, Ben decides that the incident is considerably more complicated than everyone had been thinking. In the Negative Zone, Annihilus repeats his request to Reed for aid. Reed realizes that even without the Cosmic Control Rod Annihilus could have killed him by now had he wanted to, so Annihilus's request is probably legitimate. When Reed agrees to join him, Annihilus swiftly carries him to his fortress on a nearby planetoid. But when they attempt to land, the tail of a huge, gold-armored, green-skinned, red-haired humanoid Creature swats them out of the sky. Reed wonders why Annihilus, who is the master of all the other Negative Zone monsters, cannot subdue it, and Annihilus replies that it is not entirely a Negative Zone creature. As if to clarify what Annihilus said, the visage of the Mad Thinker suddenly appears in the sky behind the monster. The creature is his pawn, says the Thinker, through which he shall gain control of both the Negative Zone and the world outside, just as soon as Annihilus and Reed are both dead. Then the monster prepares to strike them with its massive fist.