| Synopsis
| - Owen Reece, having moved back to New York City with his girlfriend Marsha Rosenberg, attempts to continue his normal life. Walking home from groceries he is suddenly ambushed by Dr. Doom, who uses his surprise attack in an attempt to kill Reece. Believing that he has succeeded, Dr. Doom then departs, locating the apartment of Alicia Masters whom he hopes to use to contact his old foes the Fantastic Four.
While at he Four Freedoms Plaza, the Thing, Ms. Marvel and the Human Torch have just returned from their adventure on the Moon. Johnny is upset that they left Crystal behind to stay with the Inhumans, finding it impossible to believe that her husband Quicksilver had been cured of his insanity. When Ben suggests that Johnny isn't happy to be back on Earth with his wife Alicia, Johnny gets angry. Their conversation is interrupted when they are contacted by their receptionist Roberta who asks them to come out into the lobby. When they do, they are shocked to see that Alicia is there with Dr. Doom. Assuming that Doom is holding Alicia hostage, Johnny attacks. Alicia tries to talk them out of attacking, and the fight is ended when Doom launches miniature missiles that create a chemical that douses Johnny's flame. Alicia tells the others to stand down, her intuition telling her that Doom has come to help them and isn't lying.
The remaining Fantastic Four members are weary, and when Doom suggests that the only way they will survive their planned trip into the Negative Zone will be from their aid, Ben openly laughs at Doom. When Doom tries to convince them that he will be the key in learning the secret of the Beyonders, Ben refuses to believe it, especially since the last Beyonder that Dr. Doom interacted with, Doom stole his powers and threatened the universe. When they still will not listen, Doom drops a time-shift bomb that puts the heroes two seconds out of synch with Doom and flees into Reed Richard's lab. There, Doom activates the Negative Zone portal and dives in before the heroes can stop him. With Alicia at risk of being sucked in, Johnny saves her before Ben and Sharon close the portal. Ben is furious that Doom tricked them, and they decide to go into the Negative Zone after him, but not unprepared. Gearing up in Reed's Negative-Space cruiser they head off through the portal, leaving Alicia to monitor their travel on the computers within their headquarters. As they breach the barrier into the Negative Zone, Alicia hopes her intuition about Doom being their savior is correct. While elsewhere, Owen Reece has been brought into a hospital where doctors fear that he might not make it to full recovery. With Marsha called in, she believes that his powers as the Molecule Man will save him, but the doctors do not believe her claims.
While in the Negative Zone, the three remaining members of the FF navigate past the blast barrier when they are attacked by a vessel containing Blastaar. Blastaar has gained considerable power since their last encounter and gives the three heroes quite the challenge, and wrecks their ship at the same time, sending them out into Neg-Space. The three heroes are on the brink of defeat when Dr. Doom suddenly appears and easily defeats Blastaar in single combat. With the threat over, the FF agree to allow Doom to accompany them and they take control of Blastaar's ship Inside they continue on their journey with everyone wondering how long they will be able to work together.
This story is continued next issue...
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