Fantastic Four #525 — Nick Peron

Mar 6

Mar 6 Fantastic Four #525

Dream Fever: Part 1

The Fantastic Four have returned from their adventure in the Microverse where they stopped General Quark and his Sub-Atomic Commandos and brought them back to Earth as miniature prisoners. When they ask Alicia what has been going on since they were gone, Alicia mentions how the Chestler Hotel is being torn down. Ben recalls that it was a slum hotel not far from his old neighbourhood. Alicia clarifies that it's not officially being torn down, but by the residents who will not let anyone into the building and are threatening violence toward anyone who does. The Fantastic Four rush to the scene and try to stop the residents from breaking the place down. Johnny deflects bullets shot at him with his heat powers and the rest of fthe team subdue the rest. It soon becomes apparent what is going on, but Reed has Sue turn the interior of the building invisible except for the plumbing. They are surprised to see that all the lead pipes in the building have been turned into solid gold. They quickly realise who is responsible: Diablo, the master alchemist.

Diablo makes his presence visible but the somnambulist he unleashes is deflected by Sue's invisible force field. The Fantastic Four attack, but Diablo deflects their attacks. He then reveals that he has recently recovered the Philosopher's Stone, which he lost centuries ago. Using it to change the gold back into lead, Diablo explains that he originally found the Stone in the 9th Century but lost it while escaping from the Spanish Inquisition. Diablo then reveals his intended plan: He demands that Reed use his Time-Platform to send him back in time so that he might go back and get revenge against the Inquisitors in the past. He tries to convince Reed that in doing so he will save thousands of innocents who were wrongly persecuted. Reed refuses to do so as they cannot know what sort of ill effect such a drastic change in history could bring. Diablo gives them two days to change their mind otherwise he will use the Philosopher Stone to change another object into gold and cause chaos about the city. When the Thing tries to subdue Diablo he teleports away. With nothing they can do about the present situation, the Fantastic Four decide to return to headquarters to try and determine how to deal with this new crisis.

The following morning, Sue and Ben are sitting down to breakfast with the children and discover that none of them were able to sleep very well last night. Franklin comments about how he had a nightmare about traveling through a world of colorful shapes. However, when he was suddenly attacked by Doctor Doom, Franklin was surprised to find that he wasn't scared of his parents’ greatest foe. Ben tells Franklin that he wasn't afraid because Doom is gone. When Franklin asks Ben what he dreamed about last night. Ben recounts how he was being chased by peasants. Since this sort of dream is out of the ordinary, Ben neglects to tell anyone that the setting was that of 9th Century Spain. Johnny then enters the room half asleep. When Franklin asks his uncle if he had any dreams, Johnny suddenly snaps at them but quickly apologizes to them. Ben quickly leads the children out of the room to check the mail so Sue and Johnny can have a talk. Sue tries to get Johnny to open up to her, reiterating how she realizes how much control Johnny needs over his powers. When Johnny tries to brush this off, Sue insists that he take the day off to work to sort out his problems.

Meanwhile, Ben and the children check on Reed in the lab after getting the mail. Franklin asks his father if he had a strange dream the night before, but Reed admits that he was up late examining one of the lead pipes from the Chestler that he did not sleep at all. He believes that if he can detect the type of energy used to temporarily change the pipe into lead, Reed will be able to track the Philosopher's Stone. While in the offices of Fantastic Four, Inc. Sue fills in for Johnny and learns that despite his lackluster organizational skills he is doing very well dealing with clients. That night, Franklin can't sleep and goes to his father only to find Reed asleep in his lab. Woken up, Reed relates a strange dream he just had: He's lugging a massive bag of mail to the Baxter Building in the middle of a blizzard. Suddenly he is surrounded by many of the Fantastic Four's foes and allies. Reed remarks that in the dream he knew that all he had to do to get by was to wiggle his ears. Hearing this, Franklin tells Reed that dream is the exact same one that their mailman, Willie Lumpkin, told him about earlier that day.

Realizing what's going on, Reed calls a quick meeting with the others. He has Ben recount his most recent dream. When Ben mentions how he dreamed he was in an out-of-control Fantasti-Car with no idea how to stop it, Reed realizes that they are all swapping dreams. Sue immediately believes that Diablo is responsible as he mentioned making their lives a nightmare. However, Reed informs her that he is quite certain that Diablo has nothing to do with the current crisis.