Where a moping, monologuing sculptor named Philip Masters was working his clay now lay a meteor crash site. He was an impatient little man, angered earlier in the morning by news on the radio that New York had awarded its three greatest artists. Pride swelled greatly in Philip who decided to call those artists nothing but "idiots". Behind yellow tape, an officer barked orders to the crowd to keep their distance. Philip was among them, being irritable & cranky. Above the people, the Fantasticar flew by & each team member exited their cockpit to land onto the beach where the crash site was located. Even the bulky officer couldn't subdue Phillip's short fuse; Ben lifted him with one hand to get him out of the way. "Ridiculous golem! You can't do this to me!" continued Phillip in his bad mood.
Reed rambled on about the blueish clay which had apparently absorbed the meteor's cosmic radiation. A part of their old space station had crashed right here, & he got Johnny to oxidize the clay layer so that Ben could lift it in a single perfect piece. "My beach! NO! That's the clay, you fiery buffoon!" screamed Phillip who got into his truck to drive home. The FF was to take that clay back for analysis. A reporter, leading the media, began to ask questions.
Philip complained & vented his anger out on his sculptures back home, going on about how people thought they were better than him & his loathing for that very matter. Taking some irradiated clay, he molded a figure of Reed while watching him being interviewed on the TV. "Your space station almost fell on my head! I should sue!" he shouted at the TV. In their Baxter Building unit on the 20th floor, Ozai & Azula sipped breakfast tea with the news on as well. Still angry, Phillip flung the figure at the screen. Shockingly, Reed fell down for real, in the most peculiar way. Ozai had to point out, "People don't usually fall like that.." Azula raised her eyebrow.
By now, Philip was almost euphoric. "Did that just happen?" said he with widened eyes. Yes, it did. He had seen Reed's pratfall & that accentuated his excitement & creativity - he picked up the figure & began twisting it to alter its shape. In seconds, Reed was seen mimicking the figure's movements on the screen & the audience was getting puzzled. "I..think we should be going now," Reed said to his team. The next moment, his face looked like it was pressed inwards, & when he tried to speak, he only managed gibberish. He sounded hilarious. Johnny couldn't contain his explosive laughter any longer. Ben finally covered the media's camera lens with his large palm. "Show's over, folks," he said. In his dark creepy abode, there was a cackle of laughter as Philip discovered he could control the outside world with his new, improved clay.
An MRI-like machine scanned Reed's forearm later in the main lab later that night. Ben eyed the machine's lasers with a serious expression. "Everything looks normal. Well, normal through you. I don't think there's anything physically wrong with you," said Sue whilst she scrutinized the H.E.R.B.I.E.'s console interface. From his temporary desk, Ozai operated L.Y., who was connected to Reed's head through a helmet-like device to scan Reed's brain patterns. "I cannot pick up any brain waves which have unconventionally been generated by Dr. Richards in recent months," sounded L.Y. with her courteous voice. H.E.R.B.I.E. already enjoyed listening to her so much that he fell silent.
"Are you sure you weren't really yourself on the morning news today?" asked Ozai with some chuckling. He looked at his own computer screen. Reed then answered, "It was so strange. There was almost a – a whispering. I could hear it in the back of my head. I just couldn't control myself." "We saw that..along with the rest of the world," said Sue. Reed sighed, "So much for my dignity..oww!" He looked behind to see a young kid bouncing on his stretched body on the floor. "Hello, uh, young man? Can you please stop jumping on my spleen?" he told the kid who was named Ricky. "That was boring! You look weird! I'm going over here!" snapped Ricky. The kid ran across the lab to explore. "Whoa, whoa, you're in a lab, kiddo!" said Ozai sternly.
"Azula & I are going to them art conventions, if you don't mind. The first one's at Gagosian Gallery uptown," he continued, shifting to another topic. Azula, who was also in the lab, joined in the conversation, "But we thought we'd swing by to help check up on Reed." "We're fine with that," replied Sue with a smile. "Thanks; we're afraid it's rather important. Some people are expecting our attendance," said Ozai, gratefully.
Johnny had come up the elevator with Ricky; he didn't seem bothered by the kid's destructive nature. "Okay, let me explain. You know how I've been trying to get an acting day right?" he said. "Well this kid is the biggest kid actor on TV & a huge fan of the FF. So I figured I can show him around, have you guys pretend to like him..& I'll get a part on his show." "Pretend to like him?" said Azula & Sue in sync. Sue added, "Why wouldn't we like him?" The reply came, "Oh, haha..no reason!" Reed snatched his PDA from Ricky before it got smashed to bits. Ben said to Johnny with a smile, "Maybe we can drop him off at the Latverian Embassy. I'm sure Doom would love to…" Strangely, there was a pause. Ben then walked to the elevator & descended without finishing. "Ben?" asked an inquisitive Reed. He said it a tad too late, & decided to brush it off.
The streets were pretty clear when Ben made his exit from the Baxter Building. He was headed for "Now, my puppet..we will show the world my power..," muttered Philip at that very second, waving his hands in front of a figure of Ben he had molded. His evil plans were to get to work tonight.
***
In one of the art galleries in town, one of the award-winning artists began his show with a jolly start. "Yes, yes, thank you! I call it 'Paint On Canvas'! & I believe it is my finest work." He showed his audience to a piece of artwork behind him. There was a crashing sound as a wall of the room got abruptly smashed. Everyone turned to the source of the noise. Some began to draw back in intimidation. In stomped The Thing, this time looking at the guests & reviewers with amethyst-coloured eyes. People thought he was definitely more freakish tonight. "You..here for my show?" trembled the artist. Much to his dismay his head was smashed - straight through his artwork that tore it badly - & he was carried away by Ben, unable to get help from the rest. "Well that was a harsh review," concluded one guest.
Reed remained concerned about a number of issues that were spinning in his sea of thoughts. Caring Sue always stuck with him through the hard times, through all these years since they met in high school. "It has to be the clay. You were exposed to some kind of cosmic radiation in the clay," she told him. "Then why aren't the three of you exhibiting the same symptoms? You were all there as well," said Reed in response. "Can you really call tying yourself in knots a symptom?" asked Sue in return. Out came a sigh from Reed. "I know. It's like there was some kind of intelligence at work, pulling my strings." There was an announcement from H.E.R.B.I.E. that Alicia Masters had arrived. The elevator door opened & Alicia hurried out to tell them on an urgent note, "You need to turn on the news. Something's wrong with Ben!"
Sue snatched the TV remote from Ricky's hand in the living room, releasing Johnny from a load of stress from some Ricky-sitting. She took the initiative to wrap Ricky's head in a force field bubble to muffle his whining. The TV channel was switched; the screen showed three supermodels making a run for it from Ben's rampage in yet another gallery. Ben was caught on camera abducting the award-winning photographer mentioned on radio that morning. "Noted photographer was abducted by the superhero making him the second artist in the past few hours to be taken. Yesterday evening New York had honoured three of its greatest artists. The awards were given for graffiti, photography and sculpting," said the newscaster
Sue pointed out, "Looks like Ben is experiencing your symptoms after all, Reed. We have to stop him before he hurts someone." "Ben wasn't answering my calls; then I heard about this on the radio," said Alicia. Some silence momentarily hung over the room before Alicia's eyes lit up, "Those artists that he's taken…I knew them! They worked with my stepfather back when I was first learning to sculpt. & they were both honoured at an awards show last night." "I hope Ozai & Azula are doing fine. Things may get pretty heated up tonight..," said Sue. Reed rubbed his chin, "Hmmm. HERBIE, bring up a list of the artists at last night's award show."
A white screen was displayed for them all; the two already known artists were displayed at the top, but the third artist's photograph caught their eyes: Ozai, with his oval face & distinctive features. His hair was tied in a thick ponytail which draped over his back. Ozai's golden eyes & calm, collected facial expression could not be missed. "Reed, did you know your new friend had an artistic side?" gasped Sue. Reed barely mouthed out his reply fluently, "Well, no! He..never talked about it! He isn't the type to brag about things." Sue pondered Reed's say, & said, "Some guys don't make every deed public, I guess. Johnny, maybe you should try it! You know..a little cutting down on admiration by others…" "That's boring, sis. Maybe in the next century," answered a smirking Johnny.
Sue returned to the original subject at hand, "This has gotten way out of hand. I guess we know where Ben's going next." Deactivating the force field encasing Ricky's head was the next thing she had to do (unfortunately). "I'm going with you!" snapped the kid, still in moody mode.