Back to GatefoldIssue #67 by Jason Bruss & Tobias Christopher
May 2016 EDITOR'S NOTE: The numbering for this issue comes from adding all of Volume 2 to the first volume's initial count. Elements from Volume 2 are wrapped up in this story. Enjoy!
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“BACK IN BUSINESS”
The Negative Zone
"I can't believe that after all of this time, after all these years of planning, that everything has finally fallen into place. All of my hard work has finally started paying off, and now all that remains is to finish this. And to think, it's all thanks to you," Annihilus said with a devilish smirk as he looked upon the form of Reed Richards, who had been immobilized while a machine was draining his mind of all of Earth's knowledge. All of its defenses; all of its heroes; and all of its weaknesses. "Within 72 hours, Earth will be mine, and there is no one that can stop me!"
"Uh, sir?" an underling said as he looked into the room. "We have a problem. Our forces are being beaten and rebellion is on its way here!"
"I have not yet begun to fight!" Annihilus shouted.
"Now would be a great time to start!" the underling shouted.
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"It's clobberin' time!" She-Thing shouted as she plowed through soldier after soldier on the battle field, with Ben Grimm following close behind, picking off the leftovers.
"Hey, that's my line!" Ben said as he smashed two soldiers together.
"Just trying it on, honey," She-Thing smirked as she cleared the path for the resistance to attack Annihilus's base. "I kind of like it."
"Lousy dames, always tryin' to take what ain't theirs," Ben muttered as he punched a soldier, knocking him far into the distance. Ben looked up to see the Human Torch flying overhead. "Hey, matchstick, you gonna do somethin'? This is your gameplan!"
"Just keep clearing the ground!" Johnny told him as he fired at a coming airstrike. "We're almost there!"
"This plan of yours better work," Ben said as he kept close to She-Thing as the resistance fighters got close to the base.
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"What is this?" Annihilus asked as he looked out the window. "Where did they get a second wind to strike back? They were broken less than a day ago!"
"They got a new resistance leader," the underling told him as Annihilus looked out into the sky. One word crossed his lips that expressed every ounce of hatred he had.
"Storm."
As Annihilus was busy watching the battle, an invisible force had snuck into the castle and began to free Reed. "Don't worry, I'll have you out shortly."
"Sue, you need to get out of here," Reed whispered. "He's too powerful now, he's-"
"He's getting his ass handed to him by my baby brother," Sue said with an invisible smile. "Don't just sit there, we have to help him."
"Worry about helping yourselves, first," Annihilus said as he pointed the Cosmic Control Rod at them.
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"Lyja, you ready?" Johnny asked as he saw his second in command just below. "Are you still feeling up to this?"
"No, but let's finish this anyway," Lyja said as she took a running leap off of a ledge. Johnny deflamed his arms and caught her, swinging her around rapidly before letting her go, sending her flying toward Annihilus's base, where she flew through the open window and kicked the warlord in the back, sending a stray blast from the Cosmic Control Rod through the wall.
"Foolish little brat!" Annihilus shouted as he turned toward her, giving Sue time to send an invisible shockwave blast forward, knocking him off balance. Reed stretched his arms out, wrapping them around Annihilus several times, then retracted them just as quickly to send him spinning. "I will destroy you all!"
"Tell it to someone who cares, Anal-ous!" Johnny said as he flew through the window and punched him before grabbing the Cosmic Control Rod and firing it at the villain, depowering Annihilus to the point where he would no longer be a threat to anyone in the Negative Zone.
"That's Annihilus!" the alien shouted as Johnny hit him over the head with the rod.
"Not anymore, that's what I'm calling you from now on," Johnny said as Sue quickly bound him in an invisible bubble. "Reed, you okay?"
"You came up with this plan?" Reed asked. "You saved the Negative Zone?"
"Well, I had help," Johnny told them as he smiled at Lyja.
"Darn tootin' he had help!" Ben said as he broke the door down. "Now can we go home? There's a cheesesteak with my name on it waitin' at my favorite pub!"
"You have beaten me, Johnny Storm," Annihilus said. "Now what? Will you take my life?"
"Nah," Johnny said as he motioned for Sue to let him go as he looked at the Cosmic Control Rod in his hand. "I will be taking this thing and dropping it somewhere safe. You can keep your miserable life, as long as you never even so much as look at Earth again. I don't even want a postcard from you saying you wish I was here, got it?"
"Very well," Annihilus told him. "Earth shall never know the glory of Annihilus."
"Hey, what did I just say your new name was?" Johnny asked, bopping him on the head again. "Say it."
"Anal-ous," he mumbled.
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"Thank you, Johnny," Lyja said as she held his hand while they stared out into the Negative Zone. "You have freed the people and given them hope again. You are a true hero."
"I'm just a guy trying to do right," Johnny said as he looked at her. "Come back to Earth with me. The war is over, and you could use a nice, long-"
"Johnny!" Sue said as she stood nearby.
"I was going to say vacation!" Johnny told her. "What do you say, Lyja?"
"Okay," she smiled as they hugged.
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Earth
The Baxter Building
"It's impossible to delete something 100% from the internet," Franklin said to his little sister.
"Not for me," Valeria told him as she hacked away at her computer. "There, it's done."
"And ALL the pictures are gone?" Franklin asked.
"Fast acting virus homes in on every file that I coded it with and deletes automatically, doesn't matter how secure the computer or cellphone is," Valeria said. "All the pictures of your little peep show are gone."*
* (New Warriors #7)
"A peep show you forced me to give when you dumped those chemicals on me," Franklin reminded her. "I wouldn't even be talking to you if I didn't want to have my penis removed from the internet."
"There's a lesson to be learned here, big brother," Valeria told him as she picked up her laptop. "Stay out of my bedroom next time."
As she walked off, Josh Guthrie walked in, shirtless and wearing a pair of black pajama pants. His red angel wings had been strapped down behind his back to keep them under control while he was indoors. "I hate to use the 'C' word, Franklin, but you're sister's kind of childish."
"I'm used to it," Franklin told him, lying to his new friend. "You sure you want to stay in my room with me? There's plenty of guest rooms."
"It's actually pretty fun, I'm used to sharing a room with all my brothers," Josh told him. "At least now I get my own bed. I'm just glad you let me crash with you for a while," Josh said as he sat down next to Franklin. "So what's the deal with you and your sister?"
"She's the favorite, so she gets to do whatever she wants," Franklin told him. "She won't even get in trouble for that little stunt. Hell, her name's not even Valeria, it's Victoria. She just started calling herself that and my parents rolled with it!"
H.E.R.B.I.E. came floating into the room with two glasses of hot chocolate as he looked at Franklin, then at Josh. "You need to go to bed, and you need to put a shirt on."
"Ever since I grew my wings, I don't really wear shirts too often," Josh told him as he took the cup off the tray. "Makes it difficult to keep buying shirts when my wings get loose."
"It's like living with younger Johnny all over again," H.E.R.B.I.E. said as the doors opened and the Richards family walked through, seeing their young son and his new friend.
"How'd everything go in the Negative Zone?" Franklin asked.
"We came, we saw, we kicked their ass," Ben told him. "Who's the winged kid?"
"This is Josh, my new friend," Franklin said. "Is it okay if he stays here for a little while, too?"
"Franklin, you can't just keep inviting people to stay here," Johnny said as he looked at Sue. "By the way, Lyja's going to be staying here a while, as well."
"I believe I shall go by my former name of Laura Greene," Lyja told them as Ben headed toward the door with Sharon.
"We're going to go check up on Alicia," Ben said as he opened the door for Sharon. "I'll be back later."
As Ben left, Sue and Reed just stepped aside to discuss their new house guests, while Johnny sat down next to Franklin.
"You didn't let this one rummage through my closet, did you?" Johnny asked.
"Do you mean did I let him accidentally find your box of gender neutral erotica?" Franklin asked. "No, Josh has no idea that you're bi-curious."
"He's bi-curious?" Josh asked as he drank his hot chocolate and smirked. "Cool. What's bi-curious?"
"Nice choice of friends, kid," Johnny told his nephew as Reed and Sue came back and looked them.
"Okay, but this is it," Sue told the boys. "No more house guests after this. And once you and your team find a base for your friends to live in, you start running it past us when you invite people to stay, understand?"
"Yes, mom," Franklin told her.
"Good, now get to bed, we'll talk more about this in the morning," Sue told them as Franklin and Josh headed to their bedroom.
"Why didn't you tell them?" Josh asked. "The others already moved into the new place with their stuff this afternoon."
"I don't know how to tell them that I'm not even on the team anymore," Franklin said. "It's too embarrassing to tell them what happened. They probably won't even care."
"We're not on the team," Josh reminded him. "I'm sticking with you. It's the least I could do after you saved my life."
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"There's my beautiful girl," Ben said as he gently picked Alicia up after she opened the door. "I missed you, darlin'."
"I missed you, as well," Alicia smiled as she wrapped her arms around him. She sniffed the air and sensed a woman's perfume. "Hello, Sharon."
"Alicia," Sharon smiled as they hugged. "It's been a while. How have you been?"
"Busy working at the museum," Alicia told her as she let them into her and Ben's apartment on the floor below the Richard's apartment. It had been triple reinforced for Ben's weight and size. "And you?"
"I've been okay," Sharon sighed as she sat down while Alicia made them some coffee. Ben took the tray and helped her, kissing her cheek as he gently sat the tray down on the table. "But-"
"But?" Ben asked. "There somethin' wrong, kid? Did somethin' happen to you in the Zone that you didn't tell us?"
"No, everything in the Negative Zone was a huge stress reliever for me," Sharon told him as she looked down into her coffee. "Just before we left for the trip, I got some news. I have breast cancer."
Ben just stared at her in shock.
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"Where are your friends?" Sue asked as the family came to breakfast, along with Franklin and Josh. "And Valeria?"
"They already took off," Franklin told her. "They think they found a place. Valeria thinks it might be perfect."
"And you're not with them?" Reed asked. "Is everything okay?"
"Franklin, you should tell them what happened," Josh whispered.
"I don't want to talk about it," Franklin said in a defeated tone as he stared down at his plate sadly. Before HE.R.B.I.E. could speak up, Franklin looked over at him. "Say one word, and I'll unplug you from the Netflix account and no more Orphan Black."
"So, you guys went to the Negative Zone?" Josh asked as he looked at Reed and Sue. He'd put on a shirt for Franklin's parents, even though he was extremely uncomfortable. His wings were always itching when he had them strapped down under a shirt. "That sounds cool."
"Yeah, tell us about that," Franklin said, wanting to change the subject.
Johnny had just come out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist and drying his hair when the doorbell rang. He went to answer, finding Billie Lumpkin, the niece of former mailman Willie, standing there.
"Good morning, Johnny," she said, having gotten used to Johnny answering the door sans shirt. Now she'd learned to control her blushing, even though Johnny's choice in towels always seemed to be a bit small. "Good to see that you're home."
"How's Willie enjoying his retirement?" Johnny asked as she handed him letters for the rest of the family. "Is this it?"
"He's loving it, it's Spring Break, so he gets to enjoy all the co-eds on the beach from his condo," she said. "No, that's just for the rest of the Richard's family. Those are yours."
Billie stepped outside and used a handcart to push in a six foot stack of boxes. "More fan mail from your legions of fanboys and girls."
"Huh, not as much as usual," Johnny told her. "Maybe it's time I started putting myself out there some more, get back into the public eye."
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"I think something's wrong with Franklin," Sue said as she helped Reed in his lab later that morning. "H.E.R.B.I.E. won't even tell us what's going on."
"I'm sure that whatever's going on with Franklin, he'll tell us when he's ready," Reed told her. "He's almost an adult, he needs to learn to handle his own situations. If he needs our help, he'll ask for it. We need to give him his space."
"Maybe you're right, what's the worst that can happen?" Sue asked sarcastically as a sudden burst of energy knocked them back. They hit the floor and looked up, seeing the form of Immortus standing in the middle of the lab.
"Immortus?" Reed asked in shock. "What are you doing here?"
"To save this family," Immortus told him. "Someone in your family is going to die unless you accept my help."
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Latveria
A family portrait was hanging on the wall, portraying Victor Von Doom as a loving husband and father to woman, son, and daughter. They were all smiling as Doom had his hand on the woman's shoulder as she sat on a chair, with his son in nice suit, and his daughter in a beautiful dress. These were Doom's family from alternate timelines, which he sought out to create the perfect family unit.
Doom had tired of Reed Richards perfect family and had decided to make his own with which to destroy the Richards family when the time came.
"No!" Dr. Doom shouted angrily at his heir Vincent Von Doom. He was in his early twenties, and being taught the dark sorcery that made Victor Von Doom such a threat. "You are not living up to your potential! Your magic is still far too weak!"
"Weak?" Victor asked as he curled his fist in anger. ""You have been pushing me day and night for months, exhausting me physically and mentally to learn this dark sorcery!"
"To prepare you to take over the throne someday," Doom said. "I push you because I want you to be the best, and only the best may succeed Doom. And you are nowhere near the best, my son."
"I'll show you the best!" Vincent shouted as he held his hand out. "Ad parietem!"
Doom flew across the room, slamming into the wall, where he had been immobilized. "Vincent, release me!"
"My name is no longer Vincent, father," the young man smirked. "From now on, I am Doomsday!"
NEXT: The Future Is Now!
"I can't believe that after all of this time, after all these years of planning, that everything has finally fallen into place. All of my hard work has finally started paying off, and now all that remains is to finish this. And to think, it's all thanks to you," Annihilus said with a devilish smirk as he looked upon the form of Reed Richards, who had been immobilized while a machine was draining his mind of all of Earth's knowledge. All of its defenses; all of its heroes; and all of its weaknesses. "Within 72 hours, Earth will be mine, and there is no one that can stop me!"
"Uh, sir?" an underling said as he looked into the room. "We have a problem. Our forces are being beaten and rebellion is on its way here!"
"I have not yet begun to fight!" Annihilus shouted.
"Now would be a great time to start!" the underling shouted.
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"It's clobberin' time!" She-Thing shouted as she plowed through soldier after soldier on the battle field, with Ben Grimm following close behind, picking off the leftovers.
"Hey, that's my line!" Ben said as he smashed two soldiers together.
"Just trying it on, honey," She-Thing smirked as she cleared the path for the resistance to attack Annihilus's base. "I kind of like it."
"Lousy dames, always tryin' to take what ain't theirs," Ben muttered as he punched a soldier, knocking him far into the distance. Ben looked up to see the Human Torch flying overhead. "Hey, matchstick, you gonna do somethin'? This is your gameplan!"
"Just keep clearing the ground!" Johnny told him as he fired at a coming airstrike. "We're almost there!"
"This plan of yours better work," Ben said as he kept close to She-Thing as the resistance fighters got close to the base.
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"What is this?" Annihilus asked as he looked out the window. "Where did they get a second wind to strike back? They were broken less than a day ago!"
"They got a new resistance leader," the underling told him as Annihilus looked out into the sky. One word crossed his lips that expressed every ounce of hatred he had.
"Storm."
As Annihilus was busy watching the battle, an invisible force had snuck into the castle and began to free Reed. "Don't worry, I'll have you out shortly."
"Sue, you need to get out of here," Reed whispered. "He's too powerful now, he's-"
"He's getting his ass handed to him by my baby brother," Sue said with an invisible smile. "Don't just sit there, we have to help him."
"Worry about helping yourselves, first," Annihilus said as he pointed the Cosmic Control Rod at them.
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"Lyja, you ready?" Johnny asked as he saw his second in command just below. "Are you still feeling up to this?"
"No, but let's finish this anyway," Lyja said as she took a running leap off of a ledge. Johnny deflamed his arms and caught her, swinging her around rapidly before letting her go, sending her flying toward Annihilus's base, where she flew through the open window and kicked the warlord in the back, sending a stray blast from the Cosmic Control Rod through the wall.
"Foolish little brat!" Annihilus shouted as he turned toward her, giving Sue time to send an invisible shockwave blast forward, knocking him off balance. Reed stretched his arms out, wrapping them around Annihilus several times, then retracted them just as quickly to send him spinning. "I will destroy you all!"
"Tell it to someone who cares, Anal-ous!" Johnny said as he flew through the window and punched him before grabbing the Cosmic Control Rod and firing it at the villain, depowering Annihilus to the point where he would no longer be a threat to anyone in the Negative Zone.
"That's Annihilus!" the alien shouted as Johnny hit him over the head with the rod.
"Not anymore, that's what I'm calling you from now on," Johnny said as Sue quickly bound him in an invisible bubble. "Reed, you okay?"
"You came up with this plan?" Reed asked. "You saved the Negative Zone?"
"Well, I had help," Johnny told them as he smiled at Lyja.
"Darn tootin' he had help!" Ben said as he broke the door down. "Now can we go home? There's a cheesesteak with my name on it waitin' at my favorite pub!"
"You have beaten me, Johnny Storm," Annihilus said. "Now what? Will you take my life?"
"Nah," Johnny said as he motioned for Sue to let him go as he looked at the Cosmic Control Rod in his hand. "I will be taking this thing and dropping it somewhere safe. You can keep your miserable life, as long as you never even so much as look at Earth again. I don't even want a postcard from you saying you wish I was here, got it?"
"Very well," Annihilus told him. "Earth shall never know the glory of Annihilus."
"Hey, what did I just say your new name was?" Johnny asked, bopping him on the head again. "Say it."
"Anal-ous," he mumbled.
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"Thank you, Johnny," Lyja said as she held his hand while they stared out into the Negative Zone. "You have freed the people and given them hope again. You are a true hero."
"I'm just a guy trying to do right," Johnny said as he looked at her. "Come back to Earth with me. The war is over, and you could use a nice, long-"
"Johnny!" Sue said as she stood nearby.
"I was going to say vacation!" Johnny told her. "What do you say, Lyja?"
"Okay," she smiled as they hugged.
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Earth
The Baxter Building
"It's impossible to delete something 100% from the internet," Franklin said to his little sister.
"Not for me," Valeria told him as she hacked away at her computer. "There, it's done."
"And ALL the pictures are gone?" Franklin asked.
"Fast acting virus homes in on every file that I coded it with and deletes automatically, doesn't matter how secure the computer or cellphone is," Valeria said. "All the pictures of your little peep show are gone."*
* (New Warriors #7)
"A peep show you forced me to give when you dumped those chemicals on me," Franklin reminded her. "I wouldn't even be talking to you if I didn't want to have my penis removed from the internet."
"There's a lesson to be learned here, big brother," Valeria told him as she picked up her laptop. "Stay out of my bedroom next time."
As she walked off, Josh Guthrie walked in, shirtless and wearing a pair of black pajama pants. His red angel wings had been strapped down behind his back to keep them under control while he was indoors. "I hate to use the 'C' word, Franklin, but you're sister's kind of childish."
"I'm used to it," Franklin told him, lying to his new friend. "You sure you want to stay in my room with me? There's plenty of guest rooms."
"It's actually pretty fun, I'm used to sharing a room with all my brothers," Josh told him. "At least now I get my own bed. I'm just glad you let me crash with you for a while," Josh said as he sat down next to Franklin. "So what's the deal with you and your sister?"
"She's the favorite, so she gets to do whatever she wants," Franklin told him. "She won't even get in trouble for that little stunt. Hell, her name's not even Valeria, it's Victoria. She just started calling herself that and my parents rolled with it!"
H.E.R.B.I.E. came floating into the room with two glasses of hot chocolate as he looked at Franklin, then at Josh. "You need to go to bed, and you need to put a shirt on."
"Ever since I grew my wings, I don't really wear shirts too often," Josh told him as he took the cup off the tray. "Makes it difficult to keep buying shirts when my wings get loose."
"It's like living with younger Johnny all over again," H.E.R.B.I.E. said as the doors opened and the Richards family walked through, seeing their young son and his new friend.
"How'd everything go in the Negative Zone?" Franklin asked.
"We came, we saw, we kicked their ass," Ben told him. "Who's the winged kid?"
"This is Josh, my new friend," Franklin said. "Is it okay if he stays here for a little while, too?"
"Franklin, you can't just keep inviting people to stay here," Johnny said as he looked at Sue. "By the way, Lyja's going to be staying here a while, as well."
"I believe I shall go by my former name of Laura Greene," Lyja told them as Ben headed toward the door with Sharon.
"We're going to go check up on Alicia," Ben said as he opened the door for Sharon. "I'll be back later."
As Ben left, Sue and Reed just stepped aside to discuss their new house guests, while Johnny sat down next to Franklin.
"You didn't let this one rummage through my closet, did you?" Johnny asked.
"Do you mean did I let him accidentally find your box of gender neutral erotica?" Franklin asked. "No, Josh has no idea that you're bi-curious."
"He's bi-curious?" Josh asked as he drank his hot chocolate and smirked. "Cool. What's bi-curious?"
"Nice choice of friends, kid," Johnny told his nephew as Reed and Sue came back and looked them.
"Okay, but this is it," Sue told the boys. "No more house guests after this. And once you and your team find a base for your friends to live in, you start running it past us when you invite people to stay, understand?"
"Yes, mom," Franklin told her.
"Good, now get to bed, we'll talk more about this in the morning," Sue told them as Franklin and Josh headed to their bedroom.
"Why didn't you tell them?" Josh asked. "The others already moved into the new place with their stuff this afternoon."
"I don't know how to tell them that I'm not even on the team anymore," Franklin said. "It's too embarrassing to tell them what happened. They probably won't even care."
"We're not on the team," Josh reminded him. "I'm sticking with you. It's the least I could do after you saved my life."
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"There's my beautiful girl," Ben said as he gently picked Alicia up after she opened the door. "I missed you, darlin'."
"I missed you, as well," Alicia smiled as she wrapped her arms around him. She sniffed the air and sensed a woman's perfume. "Hello, Sharon."
"Alicia," Sharon smiled as they hugged. "It's been a while. How have you been?"
"Busy working at the museum," Alicia told her as she let them into her and Ben's apartment on the floor below the Richard's apartment. It had been triple reinforced for Ben's weight and size. "And you?"
"I've been okay," Sharon sighed as she sat down while Alicia made them some coffee. Ben took the tray and helped her, kissing her cheek as he gently sat the tray down on the table. "But-"
"But?" Ben asked. "There somethin' wrong, kid? Did somethin' happen to you in the Zone that you didn't tell us?"
"No, everything in the Negative Zone was a huge stress reliever for me," Sharon told him as she looked down into her coffee. "Just before we left for the trip, I got some news. I have breast cancer."
Ben just stared at her in shock.
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"Where are your friends?" Sue asked as the family came to breakfast, along with Franklin and Josh. "And Valeria?"
"They already took off," Franklin told her. "They think they found a place. Valeria thinks it might be perfect."
"And you're not with them?" Reed asked. "Is everything okay?"
"Franklin, you should tell them what happened," Josh whispered.
"I don't want to talk about it," Franklin said in a defeated tone as he stared down at his plate sadly. Before HE.R.B.I.E. could speak up, Franklin looked over at him. "Say one word, and I'll unplug you from the Netflix account and no more Orphan Black."
"So, you guys went to the Negative Zone?" Josh asked as he looked at Reed and Sue. He'd put on a shirt for Franklin's parents, even though he was extremely uncomfortable. His wings were always itching when he had them strapped down under a shirt. "That sounds cool."
"Yeah, tell us about that," Franklin said, wanting to change the subject.
Johnny had just come out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist and drying his hair when the doorbell rang. He went to answer, finding Billie Lumpkin, the niece of former mailman Willie, standing there.
"Good morning, Johnny," she said, having gotten used to Johnny answering the door sans shirt. Now she'd learned to control her blushing, even though Johnny's choice in towels always seemed to be a bit small. "Good to see that you're home."
"How's Willie enjoying his retirement?" Johnny asked as she handed him letters for the rest of the family. "Is this it?"
"He's loving it, it's Spring Break, so he gets to enjoy all the co-eds on the beach from his condo," she said. "No, that's just for the rest of the Richard's family. Those are yours."
Billie stepped outside and used a handcart to push in a six foot stack of boxes. "More fan mail from your legions of fanboys and girls."
"Huh, not as much as usual," Johnny told her. "Maybe it's time I started putting myself out there some more, get back into the public eye."
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"I think something's wrong with Franklin," Sue said as she helped Reed in his lab later that morning. "H.E.R.B.I.E. won't even tell us what's going on."
"I'm sure that whatever's going on with Franklin, he'll tell us when he's ready," Reed told her. "He's almost an adult, he needs to learn to handle his own situations. If he needs our help, he'll ask for it. We need to give him his space."
"Maybe you're right, what's the worst that can happen?" Sue asked sarcastically as a sudden burst of energy knocked them back. They hit the floor and looked up, seeing the form of Immortus standing in the middle of the lab.
"Immortus?" Reed asked in shock. "What are you doing here?"
"To save this family," Immortus told him. "Someone in your family is going to die unless you accept my help."
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Latveria
A family portrait was hanging on the wall, portraying Victor Von Doom as a loving husband and father to woman, son, and daughter. They were all smiling as Doom had his hand on the woman's shoulder as she sat on a chair, with his son in nice suit, and his daughter in a beautiful dress. These were Doom's family from alternate timelines, which he sought out to create the perfect family unit.
Doom had tired of Reed Richards perfect family and had decided to make his own with which to destroy the Richards family when the time came.
"No!" Dr. Doom shouted angrily at his heir Vincent Von Doom. He was in his early twenties, and being taught the dark sorcery that made Victor Von Doom such a threat. "You are not living up to your potential! Your magic is still far too weak!"
"Weak?" Victor asked as he curled his fist in anger. ""You have been pushing me day and night for months, exhausting me physically and mentally to learn this dark sorcery!"
"To prepare you to take over the throne someday," Doom said. "I push you because I want you to be the best, and only the best may succeed Doom. And you are nowhere near the best, my son."
"I'll show you the best!" Vincent shouted as he held his hand out. "Ad parietem!"
Doom flew across the room, slamming into the wall, where he had been immobilized. "Vincent, release me!"
"My name is no longer Vincent, father," the young man smirked. "From now on, I am Doomsday!"
NEXT: The Future Is Now!