Arrival

Reed Richards is part of a conference of scientists and government officials who are being flown aboard Air Force One over the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. As security, the Invisible Woman and the Thing follow the Presidential jet as security. Aboard the jet with Reed is fellow inventor Tony Stark. While they are discussing the presentations Tony calls Reed's attention to an interesting golden apple that is on display under glass. Reed is momentarily interested in this apple before continuing his discussion with Tony. Suddenly the proximity alarm begins to go off and when Tony braces himself for the attack, Reed assures him the rest of the Fantastic Four have it under control. Outside the jet the Human Torch races ahead to face an army of soldiers flying with jetpacks. Although Johnny tries to stop them they stun him long enough to also blast open the to of Air Force One. While the Thing and Invisible Woman swoop in, Tony allows himself to get sucked out by the depressurization, activating his armor so he can change into Iron Man and maintain his secret identity. The attackers are seeking to recover the golden apple aboard the jet.

The attack is being observed from a high tech building owned by the Praxis Corporation atop the Swiss Alps. Inside, the elderly Mrs. Queen watches the events from her life support bed. She communicates her pleasure that the mission is coming together and that soon the long lost apple will be hers once again. Her assistant Lester assures her that it will be placed upon the Infinity Pedestal within the hour. However, things don't go as planned as the Human Torch interferes with the recovery of the apple and accidentally melts it to slag. Seeing this infuriates Mrs. Queen who vows to see them dead for what has happened. With the terrorists gone, the Fantastic Four -- with the help of Iron Man -- are able to make emergency repairs to Air Force One and help it land safely. Queen is upset because she had spent years trying to track down the apple. However, Lester begins explaining that the apple itself was intact hours earlier and that thinking along those lines they can find a solution to the problem.

Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four are on their way back to their Pier Four headquarters. Arriving in Manhattan they spot a massive wooden statue of an Asgardian warrior standing outside their base. After a brief examination, Reed deduces that the wooden creature is alive and attempts to communicate with it. Instead, the creature blasts him away. While the other members of the Fantastic Four distract the attacker, Reed relays data back to his lab through his uniform's computers and rushes back to his lab for analysis. With the results coming in, Reed recovers the device he needs. He tells Valeria and Franklin to stay inside as he rushes back out. Reed rushes back out and uses the device to run another scan and confirms his suspicions that the creature is powered by chronal energy. No sooner is he finished his explanation do the Fantastic Four realize that all time has frozen.

They are soon greeted by the astral form of Doctor Strange who warns them that the beings that summoned the giant are seeking to create an everlasting winter on Earth. In order to stop them, Doctor Strange informs them that he needs to send them all to different points in history in order to recover the slices of a mystical golden apple. In order to prevent any time paradoxes, Doctor Strange pulls the spirits of the Fantastic Four and informs them from here their souls will be sent back in time to possess the bodies of their past selves and recover the slices. He sends Johnny and Ben's spirits back in time first. Ben soon finds himself sent back a number of years into the past during the time that the Fantastic Four were meeting the witch known as Agatha Harkness to see if she will be a suitable nanny for Franklin. As the future Ben adjusts to being in the past he spots the apple slice is in a display case of other mystical artifacts. As Ben thinks about how easy this is going to be, he seems to forget that at this time the Frightful Four were plotting an ambush against the Fantastic Four....

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Iron Man, Knorda, Loki, Marvel Girl, Franklin Richards

Continuity Notes

• This story runs parallel with Domination Factor: Avengers. Ultimately this series ends with history diverging Earth-616 with Earth-8921. From the perspective of the Fantastic Four the divergent point in history is at the moment where Tony Stark asks Reed to observe the golden statue on the plane as seen in Domination Factor: Avengers #4.8.

• Ben was sent back in time to the events of Fantastic Four #94. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616 went back in time roughly eight years.