Thing (Vol. 2) #4
Paws & Fast Forward
In the Inhuman city of Attilan, the Inhuman dog known as Lockjaw is trying to sleep while Karnak is testing his abilities. When he strikes a sheet of concrete a sliver sticks into Lockjaw's skin. Awoken in a panic, Lockjaw rushes to the various Inhumans for assistance, but they brush him off, not knowing his distress. Seeking out others for help, Lockjaw goes to the citadel of the Watcher. Due to his oath of non-interference, the Watcher cannot do anything to help the dog. Seeing the Earth floating above, Lockjaw decides to teleport there.
On Earth, Iron Man and the Thing are returning to Manhattan along with the wealthy kidnap victims of Arcade after their ordeal on Murderland. When Carlotta LaRosa tries to talk to Ben, he tells her that they have nothing to talk about and goes into the Baxter Building. There he is handed Valeria by Sue who is in a mood. She goes into Reed's lab and demands to know why Franklin is sick in his room. Reed is surprised to learn that his experiment finished so quickly. As they argue, Lockjaw teleports into the lab, but they ignore him. Down below, Johnny is returning after dropping off all the supermodels and marvels over the phone numbers he managed to get. He flames on in joy, inadvertently burning up the phone number in the process. When Lockjaw teleports before him, Johnny is too absorbed in trying to recover the numbers from the ashes to pay the dog much attention.
Lockjaw then teleports into another part of the Baxter Building where the Thing is trying to change Valeria. Seeing that the dog is in distress, the Thing notices the piece of concrete stuck in his skin and plucks it free. Lockjaw responds by happily licking Ben's face. Ben is then called into Reed's lab and he has to drag Lockjaw with him as the dog won't let go of his leg. He has Ben sign off on funding for a new invention for Reed. He then tells Ben to take both Val and Franklin out of for the day so that Reed can test out a new device and doesn't want them to be exposed to radiation. When the Thing leaves, Reed tells Sue that he just made up an excuse to get Ben and the kids out of the house.
Ben takes Franklin and Val out, and when he takes Franklin out for dinner Franklin isn't hungry. Taking them to an amusement park and Franklin is bored. Taking him out shopping also yields more disinterest. When Valeria begins to cry about horses, Ben takes them out to the horse track. Franklin then begins asking Ben what the point of having so much money. Before Ben can explain to him, there is a danger when an armored villain calling himself the Shockjock tries to rob the track. Ben has Lockjaw teleport the children to safety. Lockjaw naturally takes them to Attilan where they discover that the Inhuman royal family is searching for Lockjaw. When he gets the children to safety, Lockjaw teleports back to Earth and helps Ben defeat Shockjock.
With the battle over, Ben and Lockjaw return to the moon where he resumes his conversation with Franklin about money. Franklin tells Ben about how his father gave him a thousand dollars with conditions: Franklin has to spend it all, and he can only spend it on himself. Franklin is delighted about this idea at first, buying toys and candy. Eventually, he began to feel empty and saw how he was spending money recklessly while his family was making do with what they have. Franklin admits he felt pretty stupid afterward. Ben hears all of this and realizes that Franklin is actually quite smart and that Reed was probably trying to teach them both a lesson about money. After their talk the Inhuman royal family approaches and informs them that Lockjaw has decided to return to Earth with them for a time. Back on Earth, Ben decides to do something simple and takes the rest of the Fantastic Four out for a picnic in Central Park.
Recurring Characters
Thing, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch), Franklin Richards, Valeria Richards, Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton, Lockjaw, Carlotta LaRosa, Iron Man, Watcher, HERBIE
