Streets of Fire Hearts of Rage

The Gray Gargoyle has ran afoul of the Fantastic Force, who easily out number and over power him. Easily contained by Psi-Lord, the Gargoyle is then turned over to NYPD's Code: Blue division for containment. When the group is then swarmed by the media, Franklin decides not to answer their questions and uses his psi-powers to lift his teammates out of the area. Watching the news coverage from his office, Daily Globe reporter Paul Alvarez is chided by his co-workers due to his sudden interest in the Fantastic Force's Huntara. Returning to his office, Paul plays his answering machine and finds a message from Franklin Richards asking to meet to discuss his recent report about the supposed return of Doctor Doom in Latveria.

Back in their SoHo loft, the members of the Fantastic Four go over the current press reports about their latest exploits. When Vibraxas reads the paper he learns about how the Korean shop owner that he saved the other day has recently been shot. Furious at the report and its claims that the attack was "racially motivated", Vibraxas storms out telling his teammates that he will deal with this problem himself. Soon, Vibraxas is at the Iaho Lee's convesntience store to see that it was also vandalized in the attack. His presence is detected by a group of white racists who decide they don't like the idea of a black man being in their neighborhood. When they attack him, Vibraxis downs two of his attackers with his vibrational powers. With the fight over, Vibraxas still has trouble trying to understand hatred motivated by a difference in skin color. When he notes that he reacted with violence with violence, he becomes determined to break that vicious circle. Meanwhile, Devlor is running late for school and stops in the washroom on his way to class. There he finds two bullies trying to rough up one of their students. When the Inhuman comes to his classmates aid, the bullies try to pull a knife, however Devlor shows them what a mistake that is by transforming into his bestial form.

Later, Vibraxas pays a visit to Mr. Lee at Mercy General Hospital. At first Mr. Lee is frightened of Vibraxas, but when the youth asks why people discriminate against other races, Iaho explains that it's the product of too many people in too little a space. That the clash of different races, religions and beliefs often lead to violence as people fear what they do not understand or what is not the same. Lee tells Vibraxas that that violence between the Sons of Sinaju and the Wakandan Lord street gangs is about to errupt into a full fledged war. Vibraxas decides to prevent this from happening. When Mr. Lee asks why, Vibraxas explains he is doing it because he can, and officially introduces himself to Mr. Lee, telling him his real name: N'Kano. Elsewhere, the tough looking Japanese gangster who blew up the Rave Club bar the night before is going around collecting protection money from local Asian business owners. Learning that this man -- known as Go-Devil -- did the night before they are more than inclinded to hand over the money.

Back at Fantastic Force's HQ, Franklin Richards is going over the data about Doctor Doom's seemingly miraculous return and wonders if this is merely a robot or some other impostor posing as Doctor Doom. That is when Vibraxas returns home and asks for Franklin's assistance in trying to understand the differences between cultures. Franklin is more than happy to help, activating his Psycho-Armor, he reminds N'Kano that Fantastic Force is more than just a team, but also family. Later that night when the Wakandan Lords and Sons of Sinaju begin their street war, Fantastic Force is there to break up the conflict before innocent people get mowed down in the gun play. Watching from the sidelines, Go-Devil cannot just stand by as these outsiders interfere and activates his powers. In his ghost form, Go-Devil attacks Vibraxas and then the others. While Go-Devil is incapacitating Devlor and Franklin, Vibraxas recovers and counter-attacks. When Go-Devil grabs N'Kano's arm he causes the power pack that controls his powers to overload. Without the technological controls keeping his powers in check, Vibraxas unleashes a powerful vibrational pulse that forces Go-Devil to return to human form defeating him. Vibraxas then confronts members of each gang and opines on their trivialities, warring over race and ethnicity and tells them that it is beneath him. When one of the members of the Son of Sinaju tries to shoot Vibraxas in the back, Vibraxas is warned by his teammates. Swinging around fast enough to grab the barrel of the gun, N'Kano's uncontrollable powers causes the gun to explode in his enemies hands, killing him instantly much to the shock and dismay of Vibraxas.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Force (Psi-Lord, Huntara, Vibraxas, Devlor), Paul Alvarez, Grey Gargoyle, Go-Devil, Code: Blue (Lt. Stone, Mad Dog Rassitano, Rigger Ruiz)

Continuity Notes

• The teenage Franklin seen here was delivered to the modern age by Nathaniel Richards from Earth-6311 to replace his Earth-616 counterpart. This occurred in Fantastic Four #376. Although everyone reacts as though this is Earth-616's Franklin all grown up, the young Franklin is returned in Fantastic Four #413. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #14 confirms that they are separate entities. Franklin believes that his mission was to stop the Dark Raider from destroying the Fantastic Four as explained in Fantastic Four #387, however this is part of a larger scheme to stop Hyperstorm that is not realized until Fantastic Four #414.

• The reporters are asking if the Fantastic Force are replacing the Fantastic Four. At the time of this story the Fantastic Four had just recently broken up in Fantastic Four #392 however the group is drawn back together during the events of Fantastic Four #397-399.

• Franklin mentions their battle against the Super-Adaptoid from Fantastic Force #4.

• Paul Alvarez became interest in Huntara of Fantastic Force when he first met her in Fantastic Force #2. His interest, as revealed in Fantastic Force #9, is because he believes that Huntara is his long lost sister. This possibility is left ambiguous and is never resolved as Fantastic Force was eventually cancelled.

• Vibraxas came to the assistance of Mr. Lee in Fantastic Force #4.

• Go-Devil blew up the Rave Club at the end of last issue.

• Franklin is questioning the validity of reports that Doctor Doom is alive and ruling Latveria again. At the time of this story Doom and Mister Fantastic were seemingly slain in Fantastic Four #381. In that same story, Franklin's grandfather Nathaniel Richards began posing as Doom. Reed and Doom are not dead, but are actually prisoners of Hyperstorm as revealed in Fantastic Four #406-407.