Masquerade!

As Reed immerses himself in the task of repairing the Baxter Building's systems, Sue berates her husband for sending Franklin to Whisper Hill to be looked after by Agatha Harkness, and for ignoring her protestations before walking out on her husband. Reed, however, is oblivious to his wife's complaint and sends HERBIE to the central computer core to run a systems check. Inside the core, HERBIE interacts with the main computer and, with access to all the secrets of the Fantastic Four's systems laughs ominously to himself. Johnny meanwhile is enjoying a night out at a New York discotheque and meets Alison Blair, the Dazzler. Having defended Alison from the unwanted attentions of a customer, Johnny settles back to watch Alison at work. As she goes through her act Johnny is mesmerized by her mutation-powered performance. In Sue's private quarters she comes under attack from HERBIE who threatens to kill her. Turning invisible and trying to escape doesn't help: HERBIE uses his infrared sensors to track Sue's movements and then knocks her out with an energy blast. He then binds the unconscious blonde girl helplessly to the wall.

Reed and Ben are busy installing a new lock on the portal in the Negative Zone chamber, but they too come under attack from HERBIE who manages to blast Ben through the portal and into the Distortion Area. Reed tries to rescue Ben but is kept at bay by his robot creation, which reveals that it is possessed of the intelligence of Dr. Sun. Ben makes it back through the Negative Zone portal and grabs HERBIE, but the robot dissipates a massive electrical current into the Thing, flooring him in the process, though giving Reed precious time to activate the Fantastic Four's emergency signal.

Across town, Johnny cuts short his dance with Alison, and blazes away to answer the distress call. As he returns to the Baxter Building, he is attacked first by compressed air guns and then by flame-retardant foam before finally being imprisoned in a vacuum chamber. Reed manages to enter the circuitry of the building's computers and over-ride Dr. Sun's control, thus releasing Sue and Johnny from captivity and restoring HERBIE's personality. Realizing that Dr. Sun could easily regain his control HERBIE chooses to sacrifice himself, destroying the main computer and Dr. Sun in the process.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), HERBIE (possessed by Doctor Sun), Dazzler

Continuity Notes

• This story reveals that HERBIE has been possessed by Doctor Sun since he was built in Fantastic Four #209.

• The flashback of the New Champions, Doctor Sun and the Sphinx flying to Xandar is from Nova #25.

• Although HERBIE sacrifices himself here, Reed continues building new versions of the robot. The next time HERBIEs are utilized is in Rom #23 when the Baxter Building is invaded by Rom the Spaceknight along with Power Man and Iron Fist.