Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #66
...Big Stuff Part 2
At the labs of fashion designer Jacob Suarti, the Human Torch and his assistant Jian Feeta are too late to stop an attempt to learn the secrets to Reed's Unstable Molecule formula and now a stolen object comprised of the stuff -- Johnny's wallet -- is now trying to merge with everything in the building. With the only scientist to not escape the lab now dead, Johnny pulls Jian out of the room so they can rescue those they can. Johnny helps Suarti and his people get outside of the building. With the Unstable Molecules a threat to everything on Earth once it finishes absorbing the building, Johnny takes off with Jian in his arms to get help.
Back at the Baxter Building Reed and Ben struggle to contain a Levoite creature that recently smuggled itself back to Earth during one of the Fantastic Four's adventures into another dimension. Reed reminds Ben that they are to try and not harm it, but when the creature bites his arm, Mister Fantastic decides that its time to use force to subdue the alien. Ben then knocks the beast into Sue's private bathroom. While the Thing struggles with the beast, Reed drags in the reduction device and tries to use it to shrink the insectoid, but it fails to start.
Meanwhile, not far away, Sue is speeding toward Suarti's offices to stop Johnny from selling him the formula to Unstable Molecules. She is startled when Jian suddenly lands in the passenger seat of her convertible. With no time to explain, Johnny grabs Sue and takes off leaving Jian to take the wheel of the car. At that moment at the Baxter Building, Reed has made adjustments to the shrinking device and uses it to restore Ben to a much larger size. With the odds now in his favor, the Thing easily subdues the insect but causes a great deal of damage to their headquarters in the process.
At the Suarti's offices, Johnny has explained everything to Sue and asks her to use her force field to contain the entire building until the Unstable Molecules run out of things to absorb and shut down. Sue blames Johnny for all of this happening and when he tries to explain that this was all a plot orchestrated by Christi Stoger and Ethan Crane, Sue talks over him and blames him for potentially ruining their finances. Johnny quickly silences her by reminding her that him being in charge of Fantastic Four, Inc. was her idea. When Sue continues to belabor the point, Johnny explains that this isn't his fault and isn't her and that they need to take responsibility for the situation. Sue realizes that her brother is finally taking responsibility for things and agrees to start helping. Pushing her powers to the limit she manages to encase the entire building in a massive invisible bubble containing the building. She only lets it down once the entire building is consumed and the Unstable Molecules become inert. With the danger over, Sue lets down her force field and collapses in her brother’s arms.
While back at the Baxter Building, Ben tosses the alien insectoid through the dimensional portal and Reed closes it behind it. Before Reed can restore Ben to normal size he gets a call from Johnny to help undo the damage caused by the Unstable Molecules leaving Ben alone to figure out a solution to his problem on his own. Ben tries to use the shrink ray again but this backfires, shrinking him down to ant-size instead of his normal height.
On week later, Sue is looking for someone to replace the position of financial manager for Fantastic Four Inc. She also fields a reference call for Stoger and Crane, telling their potential employers to contact Jacob Suarti in jail for a better reference. While looking through some resumes Sue comes across a report on the Fantastic Four's financial plan for the next year. This is when Johnny and Jian enter the room and explain that it is Johnny's work -- with some help from Jian. The pair convince Sue that Johnny is the right person for the job, and more, Johnny wants to do the job. Sue reluctantly accepts on a provisional basis, putting Jian in a position to supervise Johnny's decision. Sue tells Johnny that there are some perks to the job. Johnny quickly realizes what she means when she puts an incoming call on speakerphone and it turns out to be Ben who is looking to know who he needs to speak with to get an advance on his allowance. Hearing this causes Johnny to smirk.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Jian Feeta, Jacob Suarti
Continuity Notes
The Leviote creature stowed away to the Earth dimension when the Fantastic Four visited its domain in Fantastic Four Vol 3 #60.
The shrinking ray used here was the one invented by Doctor Doom when he was posing as Mister Fantastic back in Fantastic Four #10.
The financial plan for the Fantastic Four lists the years 2003 and 2004. This should be considered topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616 that is relative to the date of publication.
Johnny mentions how Sue had to raise growing up. As explained in Fantastic Four #32, Johnny and Sue's mother died and their father was incarcerated in jail for murder, leaving Sue to raise Johnny alone.
