Watchers Scheme!

Within the Watcher's citadel on the moon, Aron the Rogue Watcher has revealed himself to the Fantastic Four and their ally Kristoff Vernard. While holding Sue, Johnny, Ant-Man and Kristoff in stasis, Aron explains how his plan all came together: He explains that after Doctor Doom stole a portion of his power and was subsequently defeated Uatu took Aron to the Watchers to face punishment for his blatant interference in the lives of the people of Earth. He was about to face judgement from his peers when the Watchers were all summoned to defend the being they call "The One", leaving Aron to escape and continue his schemes. He tells the captive heroes that the universe will fail but he will live on. He has come seeking the storage battery which contains the faction of his power stolen by Doctor Doom. While Aron's guard is down, Sue and the others launch an attack, stunning him enough to let them free. While the Fantastic Four press for a counter attack, Aron fires energy beams from his eyes that teleport Sue away from the scene of the battle.

Meanwhile outside on the surface of the Blue Area of the moon, the Thing is attacked by the Crimson Cadre, the elite guard of the Inhumans, who have come to attack the Fantastic Four for trespassing in the Inhumans domain. Out numbered by these soldiers, the Thing is losing the battle, which is being witnessed by the man posing Boris, Kristoff's retainer. Watching the battle unfold "Boris" decides that the Thing must not die... At least not yet. While back inside the citadel, Kristoff tells Johnny to create a distraction so he can search the Watcher's home for the storage battery. As Johnny goes off into battle, Ant-Man asks how he can help as well. Kristoff annoyingly dismisses Lang as being useless and suggests he shrink down to ant size and stay out of the way before storming off. This hits Scott pretty hard, but despite the fact that he feels out classed in the battle, he is determined to stand by the Fantastic Four no matter what. Elsewhere, Sue comes to and realizes that she has been transported to a chunk of debris in the Negative Zone which is heading into the heart of the annihilation field. As she assess the situation, she briefly believes that there is salvation when she is wrapped in the familiar arm of her husband Reed Richards. At first, Sue is convinced that this is her long missing husband, but upon closer inspection she realizes that this is another trick and lashes out with her invisibility powers, much to the surprise of Reed.

While back on the moon the battle rages on until Aron realizes that the Torch is merely distracting him in order to keep him from his task and departs. Meanwhile, Kristoff has found the power battery unaware that Ant-Man has been following him from behind. As Kristoff starts trying to make adjustments he is suddenly attacked by Aron. But before the rogue Watcher can defeat Kristoff he is shrunk down to size by Ant-Man's shrinking gas. Kristoff is also shocked when Lang does the same to him and scolds him after, but Ant-Man points out that his solution was only a short term one and they had to get out of danger before Aron reverses the effects of the shrinking gas. Back in the Negative Zone, Reed Richards lashes out, with his cover blown he explains that he is the version of Reed who used to be the Dark Raider. As he attacks he tries to convince Sue to surrender and love him, since she loved on Reed Richards, he believes she could eventually love him. Sue will have no such thing and continues her attack, however, no matter what she tries her foe keep on pressing on thanks to the hyper-harness he is wearing, and the train of constantly using her invisibility powers is starting to take its toll. While back on the surface of the moon, the Thing fights back against the Crimson Cadre. When the soldiers regroup and prepare for a counter-attack they are suddenly stopped when a warning shot is fired from the Stealth-Hawk. Boris emerges from the ship aboard the Fantasti-Car and threatens to destroy the Crimson Cadre with the ship's weapon systems if they do not retreat. Realizing that they have no chance of winning the battle General Ator orders a full retreat, vowing to get revenge. In the aftermath of the battle Ben thanks Boris for putting on a bluff, however, he realizes that the man posing as Boris was not bluffing in the slightest.

At that moment inside the citadel, Aron uses his powers to restore himself to his proper height. Furious at the heroes constant interference, he rushes to the power battery that is holding his lost power. However, when Aron tries to access the device he is jolted into unconsciousness, thanks to the tampering done by Kristoff. They are soon joined by the Torch just as Aron revives. Accepting defeat in this battle, Aron gloats that the Fantastic Four will be unable to stop the destruction of the universe and teleports away. While they try to understand what Aron means, Kristoff tells them they need to focus on finding Sue and begin accessing the Watcher's machines to find her location. While in the Negative Zone, Sue turns herself invisible forcing the evil Reed to come close enough for her to destroy his hyper-harness trapping him on the asteroid with Sue. Furious, Reed renews his attack forcing Sue to fight back. With the last of her strength she shoves him back with an invisible battering ram sending Reed falling off the asteroid and hurtling toward the distortion zone. Unable to stretch far enough to grab hold of the asteroid, Richards begs Sue to save him but she is too weak to use her powers further. Realizing he is doomed, Reed apologizes for everything he has done just as he slams into the annihilation zone and destroyed.

Within the Watcher's Citadel the Fantastic Four and Kristoff have located Sue on the Watcher's monitors and are horrified to learn that she is trapped within the Negative Zone with no apparent way out.

This story is continued in Fantastic Force #7...

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Invisible Woman, Thing, Human Torch, Ant-Man), Kristoff Vernard, “Boris”, Aron the Rogue Watcher, Crimson Cadre (General Ator, Margoyle, Eelak, Glaboo, Pulssus, Rootar), Dark Raider (possessed by Malice)

Continuity Notes

• Aron explains how he was stripped of his powers by Doctor Doom. That happened in Fantastic Four #373 as this issue states, however Aron was not taken into custody until Doctor Doom was defeated in Fantastic Four #375.

• The reason the Crimson Cadre are attacking the Thing is because at the time of this story the Inhumans considered the Fantastic Four enemies after they assisted the Inhuman Royal Family recover Black Bolt and Medusa's son Ahura from the Genetic Council in Fantastic Four Unlimited #2.

• The Thing's face is scarred here because he was slashed in the face by Wolverine in Fantastic Four #374. His face is eventually healed in Fantastic Four #409.

• The man posing as Boris is actually Zarrko the Tomorrow Man who is spying on the Fantastic Four for his leader Hyperstorm. This is revealed in Fantastic Four #405.

• Sue has been searching for her husband Mister Fantastic after he and Doctor Doom seemingly perished in Fantastic Four #381. They turn up alive and prisoners of Hyperstorm in Fantastic Four #406-407.

• Sue recognizes this Reed Richards as the man who used to be the Dark Raider from the scar across his face. Richards got this scar when one of the weapons kept by Galactus exploded in his face in Fantastic Four #391.

• In Fantastic Four #392 Psi-Lord transferred Sue's evil Malice persona into the mind of the Dark Raider. As such it can be presumed that if the former Dark Raider died here, so to did Malice.

• Sue is rescued from her fate thanks to the teleportational abilities of Huntara of Fantastic Force in Fantastic Force #7.