Fantastic Four #520
Rising Storm: Part 1
In a desperate gamble to save Sue's life, Reed used a device to swap her powers with Johnny's. However, this resulted in Galactus making Johnny his Herald to utilize these invisibility powers to de-cloak hidden worlds. When the Fantastic Four attempt to stop Johnny's abduction, Galactus easily departs leaving the Fantastic Four falling from the roof of their Baxter Building headquarters. With Ben at the most risk, Reed orders Sue to use her new flame powers to save him, but her lack of control over these abilities causes her to singe the Thing's arm in the process of grabbing him forcing him to pull free and take his chances with landing on his own. Thankfully, the impact was only minor. Recounting what happened, Reed tells Sue to calm down and that they are going to do everything they can to save Johnny from Galactus. Reed hopes they can accomplish this before Johnny is forced to bring Galactus to a populated world to consume or wear out his patience.
Impossibly far away, Johnny is already complaining about the situation he finds himself in. His demands to know about the bathroom and food situation go ignored by Galactus. Deciding to figure things out for his own, Johnny finds using Sue's powers incredibly easy. As he marvels over the various technological devices in Galactus' ship an alarm suddenly sounds and Johnny soon finds himself ejected out into space. He is confronted by a warrior calling himself Kaargan the Unforgiving who has come to destroy Galactus before he can feast upon Kaargan's world.
Back on Earth, Sue is finding Johnny's powers increasingly difficult to control. Taking a shower she finds that it difficult to shut off the flame. This makes her realise how much pressure Johnny has been under all these years. This causes her to think back to when they were younger and Sue looked after Johnny on her own. She recalls one day she was harping on him to control himself only to be touched when he made her a sandwich and flowers for mother’s day. Meanwhile in Reed's lab, Ben and Reed are preparing for their trip into space to recover the Human Torch. Going back to his room Ben arrives just as his answering machine clicks on and Alicia Masters leaves a message. Ben manages to get the phone before she hangs up and the two talk about Johnny's abduction. They get to talking and Ben thinks back to when he first started dating Alicia Masters and how it was Johnny who convinced Ben to man up and kiss her for the first time.
The Thing lets Alicia go when Mister Fantastic tells him their help has arrived. The three members of the Fantastic Four go to the roof where they are met by Quasar. Agreeing to help them find Galactus, Quasar encases the team in a quantum sphere and carries them off into space. It's there at Johnny is still fending off Kaargan who will not relent in his attack. Getting fed up, Johnny unleashes his powers splitting the layers of Kaargan's body. Horrified by what he's done, Johnny is surprised when he is able to reform his attacker. Johnny then brings the completely emasculated warrior back to his world and realizes that his new powers have also been boosted by the Power Cosmic, leaving Johnny to wonder what he has become.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Quasar, Galactus, Alicia Masters (voice)
Continuity Notes
Sue had to raise Johnny on her own because her mother died in a car accident and her father was in jail as explained in Fantastic Four #32.
Ben's flashback was back when he and Alicia Masters first started dating between Fantastic Four #9 and 10. The pair dated until Fantastic Four #265.
The Thing and Mister Fantastic mention how Quasar used to rent out an office in their headquarters. In his civilian guise of Wendell Vaughn, Quasar ran a business from the Four Freedoms Plaza from Quasar #3-60.
