"Happy birthday Franklin!" Sue yelled at her son who was just waking up.

"Today I'm six! Whoopie!" Franklin shouted with a big smile.

"That's right Franklin, but until your party I am going to take you to a fair that is happening in Buffalo," Alicia said.

"All right! What are we waiting for then?" Franklin asked running into the bathroom to get some clothes on. After a few minutes wait, Franklin came out.

"I'm ready!" Franklin cried walking out of the bathroom fully dressed, but with his shirt on backwards.

"Okay, let's get going then," Alicia said, grabbing Franklin's hand and walking out of the door.

As soon as Alicia walked out, Maggott walked in. "How is she dealing with her new Undying powers?" Maggott asked.

"She seems to be dealing with them pretty well, but that remains to be seen," Invisible Woman said.

"Well, I hope she can deal with her new powers as easily as I have been dealing with mine," Maggott replied.

"Japeth you wouldn't mind coming with me to go get some decorations for the party now, would you?" Sue asked.

"Sure, Sue! It's not like I got plenty of things to do anyway," Maggott said.

5th Floor (FF Plaza)

The 5th floor of the Four Freedoms Plaza was mostly a holographic training center that was based off of Danger Room technology. Triton and Tigra happened to be in there at the moment.

Triton was pinned into a corner by Wolverine and Captain America. He picked up a steel pipe that was near him. He used it to stun Captain America, but it proved almost ineffective against Wolverine. Just as Wolverine was about to move in for the kill, Tigra blew his head off with a laser.

"I just happened to find this. It could only fire off one blast though," Tigra explained.

"I don't care how you did it, but I am very much in debt to you," Triton said. Just then Diablo, Absorbing Man, and She-Hulk came in the place of Wolverine and Captain America.

"Well I guess we'd better handle these guys too!" Triton exclaimed.

BEEP! BEEP! "That was our threat alert! Computer end simulation!" Tigra commanded.

11th Floor

"None of our police officers have been able to handle the Acidroid so far. He has proven to be an incredibly powerful foe," the police chief said.

"We'll be on our way ASAP!" Tigra said, shutting off the communication line.

"Let's leave Sue and them a note. Oh yeah... Triton, go to the 16th floor and grab two pairs of Reed's lightweight armor. It should prove effective. Once you get the armor, meet me on the first floor," Tigra commanded Triton.

Triton didn't take very well to being commanded, but he wanted to honor his queen Medusa so he did as Tigra said. He got to the 16th floor rather quickly. He found the purple, alloy-laced, lightweight armor rather easily. He rushed with two pairs of the armor to the 1st floor where Tigra was waiting for him. She quickly grabbed her armor from him and put it on. Triton proceeded to put his armor on.

The Fair

Alicia and Franklin had ridden the merry-go-round sixteen times. They had to take a break to keep themselves from getting nauseous. "So Franklin are you having fun?" Alicia asked.

"This is my best birthday ever!" Franklin shouted.

"I am glad it is," Alicia replied smiling.

"I even got someone to be my daddy!" Franklin said smiling. That comment caught Alicia off guard. She could only sputter out one thing.

"Who is this 'daddy'?" Alicia asked stuttering.

"IT IS I!" Franklin yelled his eyes turning red. Franklin's body then began to change. His skin became a darker color and more wrinkly. Franklin grew taller and his nails got longer. His clothes were changing also. He had kept changing until he became...

"It is I, Kulan Gath, who have taken possession of Franklin. I was and still am his new father," Kulan Gath said laughing.

Alicia began to laugh with Kulan Gath. "If you believe you are half the man Reed is, you are dead wrong!" Alicia shouted.

Just then a black portal opened up in the sky and out of it came Maximus, King Daloa, and Stone Girl riding on some dragons. Along with them were creatures that were part bird, human, and dragon. There were others that were part horse, lion, goat, and dragon. All together there were about 400 things ready to do something.

"Kulan Gath, we suggest you leave Franklin's body and hand it over to us. Otherwise there will be some serious fighting going on here," Maximus said.

"HAHAHA!!! Do you truly believe I will give up absolute power!" Kulan Gath bellowed.

"Don't say we didn't warn you," King Daloa said.

Meanwhile Alicia managed to slip away unnoticed. She was about to power up to her new Undying self and find some way to save Franklin. She could only hope the Fantastic Four would know she was in trouble and come to help.

So she prayed and prayed hard.

Four Freedoms Plaza

Invisible Woman and Maggott pulled up into the Four Freedoms Plaza parking lot. They found a guest waiting there for them. It was the Sue clone that had appeared during the whole Octense Dream affair.*

(* See issue #10 -- Russ)

"Never thought I would be able to see so much beauty in one day," Maggott said jokingly.

"I have come here on serious matters," the Sue clone said.

"What would those serious matters be?" Invisible Woman asked.

"Well, I simply want all of your husband's inventions and what the Queen Invisible wants she gets," Queen Invisible said.

"Oh so you go by Queen Invisible . Well, let me tell you something. I wouldn't give you one of my husband's inventions even if my life depended on it," Invisible Woman exclaimed.

"My dear Mrs. Richards, your life does depend on it. So says Doom!" Dr. Doom was behind Invisible Woman and Maggott the whole time.

"I am sure you have met my husband, Victor Von Doom," Queen Invisible said.

"Your... husband. You really have stooped low Doom," Invisible Woman said.

"Silence, woman! Now surrender the inventions or we will take them forcefully!" Queen Invisible shouted.

"Well, I hate to be one to take the tough route, but with people like you it is just too boring if you don't," Invisible Woman said.

Another Dimension

The X-Men and Reed came to the Four Freedoms Plaza to find only devastation. Mr. Fantastic, Phoenix, Diamondback, and Hulk were all on the floor dead. Their bodies had been greatly ravaged.

"Who could have done this?" Firestar asked, sobbing over the body of Jean Grey.

"I think these guys are probably responsible," Payne said pointing to a message written in blood on the wall. The message said 'The Mutant Death Squad has just begun'.

"Boomer, Payne, Thunderbird, and Shatterstar, I need you to go see what you can find out about this Mutant Death Squad. I want to stay here and find Reed's children," Magneto commanded.

"Alistaire, I want you to get back to base and call up X-Force, the Mutant Forger, the Avengers, the Virtue League, Venus IX, and Alpha Flight. I want them all here pronto!" Magneto commanded.

"I have found the children, Magnus!" Neal shouted, pulling Jonathan, Charles, and Stephanie out of a basement door. None of them spoke a single word.

"Your daddy is gone now, but I promise I will avenge him and the rest of his friends," Magneto said. Then Reed came around the corner.

"Daddy! Daddy! You are all right!" Jonathan shouted running over to him. Charles and Stephanie followed.

"Kids, I am sorry... I know this will be hard for you to understand, but I'm not your daddy," Reed said.

"Oh daddy, you play too much!" Stephanie said.

"Yeah dad, who else could you be?" Jonathan asked playfully.

"Kids I am truly sorry, but I am not your father. I come from another dimension. I may look like your father, but I am not," Reed explained painfully.

"Then where is my daddy?" Jonathan asked beginning to sob. Stephanie and Charles followed behind him.

"Children, I am so sorry, but your daddy is gone," Reed said trying not to be too blunt. The children flooding with tears ran to Reed for comfort despite them knowing he wasn't their father.

"Magneto I think the cavalry has arrived," Firestar said. Magneto walked to the spot from where she was looking and saw the multitude of heroes headed their way.

There was the Virtue League who consisted of Namor, Sersi, Thor, Captain America, Photon, Quasar, Hulk, Seer aka Fred Duncan, Forge, Ikaris, Thena, Helix, Coil, and Dagger. Then there was the Avengers, who consisted of Scarlet Witch, Vision, Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, Valkyrie, and Blob. Behind them came X-Force and Alpha Flight. Alpha Flight had Guardian, Vindicator, Shaman, Sasquatch, Aurora, Northstar, and Sabertooth as part of their roster.

After them came Mutant Forger. He looked like he was in his early 20's when he was in fact over 500 years old. He looked very much like Ian Nottingham off of Witchblade. Of course none of our heroes would have a clue who Ian Nottingham was. Right beside him was the group Venus IX. The leader of that group was Venus. The heroes that were under her command were Iron Man, Black Knight, Nova, Iron Fist, Quicksilver, and Crystal.

"You had better have a good excuse for calling us all to the Four Freedoms Plaza, Magnus," Mutant Forger said.

"Nice to see you too old friend and trust me, I have brought you all down here for a purpose. We are going to find the killers of the Fantastic Four," Magneto said.

"Whoever said the FF were dead?" Namor asked.

"We found their bodies today. They were brutally beaten by some group calling themselves the Mutant Death Squad," Firestar explained.

"Where are Reed's children?" Iron Fist asked.

"They are with me," Reed said coming out with Jonathan, Stephanie, and Charles.

"Reed... I thought all the FF were dead?" Black Knight asked, baffled.

"He is from another dimension. It is a long story that we don't have time to explain," Magneto said. Just as he was about to continue Payne and the rest came into the building.

"Erik we have found the identities of those in the Mutant Death Squad," Payne said.

"Avalanche, Black Tom, Bloodscream, Roughouse, Caliban, Callisto, Ahab, Chamber, Domino, Emplate, Ever, Fatale, and Exodus are the Mutant Death Squad. I have already encountered them," Mutant Forger said.

"Then why didn't you inform all of us when you first encountered this group?" Magneto asked.

"It is because he probably wanted to handle the situation on his own," Venus said.

"That and I didn't want to alarm everyone," Mutant Forger said.

"Well, because of you not wanting to alarm us, the Fantastic Four are now dead!" Payne exclaimed, venting his anger and disgust at Mutant Forger's arrogance.

"Can it be... I never thought it possible. The prophecies are being fulfilled after all this time," Ikaris said.

"What prophecies?!" Reed asked baffled.

"I believe Magneto and Mutant Forger know what I am talking about," Ikaris said, giving a sly look to the two of them.

"You can't seriously believe that those silly books have some truth to them!" Magneto asked shocked.

"Yes, I believe they are very serious and I have every single one of the volumes logged in my hand-held computer," Ikaris said, pulling the computer out of his pocket.

"Alright then, tell us what to do next?" Shatterstar asked, unbelieving of these books.

"It says the death of the FF was only the beginning. Now comes the resurrection of Charles Xavier in the city of the rising sun. During the resurrection the Mutant Death Squad will attack the headquarters of Valencia Cooper, killing her. At the same time the villain Apocalypse will launch his Prelates onto L.A. and send his servant Cortez to collect the new Horsemen," Ikaris said.

"Well, I guess it is time we start changing some destiny. My X-Men and myself will go to Japan and wait for Xavier to rise from the dead," Magneto said with now the slightest bit of hope that the prophecies were true.

"The Virtue League will head to L.A. and wait for the Prelates," Captain America said.

"My team will head over to the headquarters of Valencia Cooper," Venus said.

"We are coming with you too Venus," Meggan said.

"My team is going to go to Egypt and try to find Apocalypse," Ms. Marvel said.

"Then we shall accompany you," Vindicator said.

"If it is alright with everyone I wish to stay here and see what I can do with Reed's work," Mr. Fantastic said.

"Of course it is alright. We need all the help we can get right now," Captain America said.

"Then I will stay with him to make sure that he isn't left defenseless against an unexpected attack," Mutant Forger said.

"Fine now let's get to work people. We've got a world to save," Captain America explained.

All the heroes hurriedly left the building. Mutant Forger and Mr. Fantastic were all alone. "Is this universe strange to you, Reed?" Mutant Forger asked.

"Yes it is very different from my world and it is strange. I just like to look at it as another challenge," Reed said.

"Interesting perspective indeed," Mutant Forger said with a smile.

"So what is your story? You sound like you have been in the hero biz for a while," Mr. Fantastic said.

"I have actually been in it for 500 years. I was originally born in the year 4685. I lived until the year 5166 then traveled back in time to this day and age, but not of my own free will. I learned to adapt to this world and I eventually befriended Magneto, Xavier, and Ikaris in the very beginnings of my time in this era," Mutant Forger said.

"So I guess you and I have a little bit in common," Reed said while he was fiddling with some machine.

"Not to be rude, but it seems your relationship with Ikaris and Magneto is a bit... strained," Reed continued.

"Strained is saying the least of it. It all started because of a woman actually. Her name was Kellora Price and she was like a radiant star in the sky. We all fell in love with her. That was one of the first steps in the breaking down of our relationship. The next step was when the villain Apocalypse kidnapped Kellora and changed her into his top Prelate. We fought her with heavy hearts, but we had to protect the world. Eventually it was a young Charles Xavier who came in and saved us. Magneto, Ikaris, and myself were very bitter with the victory, but we took Xavier into our ranks. Then we found those cursed books," Mutant Forger said staring at the ceiling trying to hide the tears that flowed down from his eyes for thinking of Kellora.

"Why did those books cause stress between the four of you?" Reed asked.

"Well, it was because Ikaris was the only one who believed in them. The rest of us thought it was a bunch of rubbish. We argued constantly over how to deal with the books. I wanted to burn the unholy things; Magneto and Xavier wanted to sell them to some sap; and Ikaris wanted to keep them. The arguing eventually became so great and we all went our seperate ways," Mutant Forger explained.

Four Freedoms Plaza

"Why do you wish to fight us? Make this easy on yourselves," Doctor Doom said in an almost convincing tone.

"There are three things that can happen in a fight. You win, you lose, and if you lose you come back till you win! I guess you are going to be taking the second option," Maggott said, unleashing a barrage of maggots at Doctor Doom.

Meanwhile Invisible Woman attacked Queen Invisible with a barrage of little sycthe-like invisible constructs. Sue figured they would be enough to break Queen Invisible's force field, which it was obvious that she had up. They harmlessly bounced off. "My force field, Sue, is a combination of telekinesis and my invisibility powers. See, I have more powers than you do. In addition to the powers that you have I have telepathy, space and time manipulation, telekinesis, and kinetic energy absorption, which I can use it to increase my intelligence and turn my body into super dense copper," Queen Invisible explained making Sue feel the situation was hopeless.

Sue still attacked, though, with invisible constructs. Queen Invisible was dodging all the blows with ease. Then finally Queen Invisible used her telepathy to knock Sue out cold.

Maggott watched in horror as his maggots were chopped to pieces by the laser beams Doctor Doom emitted from his armor. Maggott relentlessly kept sending out maggots at Dr. Doom, but he just kept blowing them apart. Finally Maggott unleashed a maggot that he was about to make grow to the size of an elephant, but before he could do it, he was punched in the head by a super dense Queen Invisible.

"Well, sweetie, it seems that we have taken care of the vermin," Dr. Doom said laughing at the corny joke he had just made.

"Victor Von Doom, a man of humor. There are just too many facets to you," Queen Invisible said to her husband.

"Don't expect many jokes from me though," Doctor Doom said smiling as he moved in to kiss Queen Invisible, but before they could they were put to sleep by Phermona.

Curano, Phermona, and Moltarblast had watched the whole affair waiting for the right opportunity to arise. "Ryan, now that we got this covered, go and see what you can do for Tigra and Triton," Curano said.

"Alright, Norali, I got it covered," Moltarblast said, walking off to where Tigra and Triton were supposed to be.

"What do we do about Dr. Doom and Queen Invisible?" Sarah asked.

"Well, we can keep them unconscious, that's for sure," Curano said.

"Oh yeah Phermona, see if you can use your powers to wake up Maggott and Sue," Curano said. Phermona nodded and used her power to awaken Maggott and Invisible Woman from their sleeping state.

"What just happened here?" Invisible Woman said waking up from her psi-shocked state.

"It is a long story, Mrs. Richards," Curano said.

"I think you and Maggott better sit down for this tale. It takes a bit," Phermona said.*

(* For more on why the new Frightful Four are acting like good guys, see "Curano's Tale" in M2K's Marvel Fanfare #5 - Russ)

Downtown New York

Tigra doged yet another acid blast from Acidroid. This time the blast hit a car. "I am seriously getting tired of being on the defensive here and where the hell is Triton?!" Tigra said fiercely.

VROOM! VROOM! A car came plowing down the road straight into Acidroid. In the driver's seat was Triton. The impact sent Acidroid flying into the Hudson River. Just then a helicopter came above where Acidroid was and began to dump loads of Clorox Bleach on him. A base solution to acidic solution hopefully would make a neutral solution.

"That was your big plan, Triton?" Tigra said, a little bit angry at not being let in on it.

"Yes, that was my big plan. It seems to have worked," Triton said.

"That dude was only the beginning of your problems," Moltarblast said. coming up behind Tigra and Triton.

"It's Moltarblast! Take him down now!" Tigra exclaimed, pile-driving straight into Moltarblast with her heat resistant suit. Triton jumped in right along with her and their combined force sent Moltarblast through a convenience store display window.

"Score one for the good guys!" Tigra exclaimed.

"I don't believe our foe has been vanquished yet," Triton said.

"I am not your foe, Triton. I wish to warn you of a great disaster that only you guys can stop from occurring," Moltarblast said.

"Why should we believe you?" Tigra asked.

"Because Sue and Japeth are being taken care of by Curano and Phermona right this very instant," Moltarblast said.

"Okay buddy, but if we find out you aren't on level with us I will tear you apart myself," Tigra said.

Another Dimension

"My powers are the source of my greatest shame," Mutant Forger said.

"Why is that?" Reed asked, curious.

"I have the extraordinarily powerful ability to create mutants. It seems almost as if it is a responsibility too large for any being to handle. It was about two years ago when I began to create legions of mutants to be the protectors of the world. I had hundreds of mutants working together to protect the world from slimeballs, then those mutants became the slimeballs. They all were possessed by demons sent by Mephisto. They leveled the entire country of France. It was only by the intervention of the heroes that MY legions were defeated," Mutant Forger explained.

"So you blame yourself for the destruction of France and I am guessing that you have stopped using your powers," Mr. Fantastic said.

"Well, then I would say you have guessed right. Strangely enough though when my mutants die, I gain their powers. I can expel those powers from my body and give them to someone else. I would do this, but I feel I should carry the shame of my mistakes," Mutant Forger said.

"You are too hard on yourself," Mr. Fantastic said.

"Perhaps... have you ever been to space Reed?" Mutant Forger asked

"Actually, yes, I have been there so many times it makes my head hurt," Mr. Fantastic replied.

"It is truly a beautiful thing. I think after all of this is over with I shall go there," Mutant Forger said.

Valencia Cooper's Offices.

Valencia Cooper was just about to leave her office when she heard something. She pulled her gun out of her pocket and just as she was about to shoot where she had heard the noise coming from, something grabbed her hand.

"Sorry sister," Domino said as she punched Valencia Cooper in the face. Valencia fell backwards straight into the grip of Fatale. One by one the members of the Mutant Death Squad came out of their hiding places. They were all in places where they could have easily caught Valencia Cooper off guard. There was no way she could have gotten out of that base.

"Looks like we caught ourselves a... ARGH!" Avalanche yelled as he was hit by an energy blast from Iron Man.

"Let Valencia go now!" Venus yelled angrily.

To Be Continued...