Omens and Portents

Doctor Strange is returning home from shopping unaware that someone is watching him from the darkness. When he arrived at his Sanctum Sanctorum, he discovers a dead dog nailed to the door of his home and a pentagram painted in blood. Assuming the worse, Strange switches to his mystical garb and enters his Sanctum where he finds Wong suspended from the ceiling, cut and bleeding with strange singles carved into his flesh.

A few days later in the Meatpacking District, the Human Torch is enjoying a night out with his girlfriend Kourtney Keaton. When they arrive at Kourtney's apartment they find police gathered outside the building. As it turns out, Kourtney's friend Stephanie Simmons had jumped from the roof of the building, an apparent suicide. Unable to believe that he friend would kill herself, Kourtney pushes through the throng of people and is horrified when she sees Stephanie's ruined body on the pavement. While at the SoHo apartment of Alicia Masters, Alicia has called her ex-boyfriend the Thing to check out her apartment after she had a strange feeling and detected the stench of brimstone. Entering the studio apartment, Ben is shocked to see that someone has decapitated the heads off a Fantastic Four statue.

The following day, Reed and Sue have taken Franklin out to the butterfly conservatory at the Museum of Natural History. When the butterflies begin dropping dead, Reed quickly deduces that its because the oxygen inside the conservatory is quickly running out. With everyone trapped inside, Reed uses his powers and his keen intelligence to find a weak point in the glass and is able to break their way free. With the crisis over, Reed and Sue wonder what the intended purpose of this attack was.

Meanwhile, at Cypress Hill Cemetery in Brooklyn, Pulse writer Ben Urich has been called by the cemetery caretaker. There he is shown seven graves that have been dug up with and had their corpses put on display around a grave maker with a pentagram written in blood. The following night is Halloween and the Fantastic Four have just put the children to bed and are about to watch some horror films when suddenly Val enters the room. The infant is possessed by some evil force which tells the team that they are all going to die. As soon as the grim message is received the being possessing the child suddenly lets go, and Valeria collapses on the ground. As the Fantastic Four rush to her aid, on Whisper Hill the Salem's Seven have been drawn back together. At the home of Agatha Harkness, they are greeted by a woman to be claiming to be her, she tells them that she is their grandmother and tells them that they are going to help her resurrect her son Nicholas Scratch.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Franklin Richards, Valeria Richards, Alicia Masters, Kourtney Keaton, Nicholas Scratch, Salem’s Seven (Brutacus, Reptilla, Gazelle, Vakume, Hydron, Vertigo, Thornn), Doctor Strange, Wong, Ben Urich

Continuity Notes

• Ben Urich mentions that he investigated the "Ghost Rider" case a few years back. This is a reference to Danny Ketch who operated as the Ghost Rider in and around Cypress Hills Cemetery beginning in Ghost Rider Vol 3 #1. He states that this was a "few years back", per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, the Ketch Ghost Rider became active in the area roughly 3 years prior to this story.

• The "woman" posing as Agatha Harkness is actually her son Nicholas Scratch. At the time of this story, Agatha is apparently deceased after being slain by the Scarlet Witch in Avengers #503. She will be resurrected in Scarlet Witch (Vol. 2) #14