Turning Point

The Thing is at the Mercy General Hospital gift shop buying a trinket for Alicia when suddenly, Crystal of the Inhumans and her pet, Lockjaw teleport inside the room. Crystal is in tears and needs Ben’s help. She begs him to return to Attilan with her. Quicksilver wants to expose their daughter, Luna, to the Terrigen Mists. Luna is perfectly human and Quicksilver wants her to develop super powers. But Crystal doesn't want her to. By Inhuman law, the father of the child holds all rights as to whether their offspring should be exposed to the Terrigen Mists.

Lockjaw teleports Ben to Attilan and he marches towards the royal palace. A bunch of guards try to stop him and he lays into them. One of them sneaks up behind Ben and zaps him with a stun weapon. Ben wakes up in chains. The Royal family comes to see him and they try to explain Inhuman custom to him, but Ben isn’t hearing it. He cannot fathom why a child should be made to endure a treatment if it goes against the wishes of her mother. Black Bolt, leader of the Inhumans is bound to this tradition and can do nothing. The decision rests solely on Quicksilver.

Quicksilver arrives with little Luna in his arms. The Thing escapes from his cell and tries to force Quicksilver to hand the infant over to him. But Quicksilver refuses. He races away, but stops just short of running into Lockjaw. Lockjaw snatches the child from Pietro’s arms. Black Bolt intervenes and the Thing and he fight for a little bit.

Ultimately, it is Lockjaw, speaking for the first time in ages, that convinces Pietro to honor Crystal's wishes and not subject Luna to the Terrigen Mists. The Thing is equally shocked to hear the animal speak, and it becomes apparent, that Lockjaw is not really a dog, but rather he is an actual Inhuman, transformed into an animal by the Terrigen Mists.

Recurring Characters

Thing, Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, Luna, Lockjaw), Qucksilver

Continuity Notes

• Alicia is in the hospital recovering from injuries sustained being tortured by Annihilus in Fantastic Four #251-256.

• This story states that Quicksilver is a mutant and the son of Magneto. Magneto and Quicksilver were led to believe that they were related in Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4, by Bova. However as revealed in Uncanny Avengers (vol 2) #4-5, Pietro was actually the child of Django and Ana Maximoff. The High Evolutionary kidnapped Pietro and his sister Wanda and experimented on them. In order to cover his tracks, the High Evolutionary altered their DNA so that they would register as mutants if they were examined.

• Although this story suggests that Lockjaw is actually an Inhuman that mutated into dog form. However, X-Factor #71 later revealed that this was a hoax perpetrated by Gorgon and Karnak made to force Quicksilver into realizing the potential repercussions that came from exposing his child to the Terrigen Mist.

Continuity Errors

• This story takes place after Fantastic Four #240 when the Fantastic Four helped the Inhumans relocate Attilan to the Moon. However, the sky around Attilan is depicted as being Earth-like.