Eyes Without a Face: Part 2

Alicia Master thinks back to when she was a child, before the accident she was an avid painter. After the accident that took her eyes and her father's life and her mother died she learned how to sculpt from her step-father the future Puppet Master. She recalls how Phillip Masters had a long-standing feud with the Fantastic Four and how he recently came to her saying he was well and had a means of curing her lost eyesight. However, she now suspects that her father is influencing her mind so she doesn't think about what horrible things her father is doing. She also wonders what sort of control he has over Dr. Saunders the man performing the various failed operations that were done to restore her eyesight.

Wandering around she finds her way into the operating room where she is horrified to discover that the set of eyes is coming from her long time friend Susan Richards. This discovery causes enough noise for her to awaken her father the Puppet Master. Furious at this discovery, Phillip goes and grabs a fire ax and goes looking for the two women. With her powers nullified by the Puppet Master, Sue tells Alicia to help her escape.

Meanwhile, in another dimension, the male members of the Fantastic Four are on an exploration mission when they receive an emergency transmission from Franklin who reports to his father that his mother suddenly disappeared.

Back on Governors Island, Alicia and Sue try to escape the facility but discover that the Puppet Master has guard dogs on the property. Realizing what needs to be done, Alicia brings Sue up to where her father keeps his clay. There she explains to Sue why her father has captured Sue. When Alicia refers to her father's clay as being "magic", Sue corrects her explaining that it's actually radioactive and the radiation has affected her father's mind over the years. With the Puppet Master hacking away at the door with his ax, Alicia decides to take some drastic measures. Forming a clay form of her father out of the clay, she breaks her father's arms, ending his threat.

Soon the rest of the Fantastic Four arrive on the scene and Dr. Saunders returns Sue's eyes to her body. After conferring with Daredevil they learned that the Puppet Master murdered a number of women to provide the eyes for Alicia's operations. Blind again, Alicia is visited by Ben who asks her what she misses the most. She tries to find the strength to tell him that she misses everything.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Alicia Masters, Puppet Master, Daredevil

Continuity Notes

• Alicia mentions the death of her parents: Her biological father died in an explosion caused by the Puppet Master. Alicia's mother died later due to radiation exposure from the explosion. It also robbed Alicia's eyesight. This was depicted in Marvel Team-Up #6.

• Sue and Alicia disagree on why Phillip's clay allows him to control people. The clay originates from Wundagore Mountain which has ties to both magic and science. Alicia believes that the clay is magical. This is because the demon Chthon was trapped in the mountain as per Avengers #167. However, the site was also the former home of the High Evolutionary for decades as first seen in Thor #134. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #8 states it may be a combination of both elements.