Benjamin J. Grimm, aka the Thing, fabled member of the super-powered group called the Fantastic Four, liked many things about Arizona... but the heat and the accumulating humidity was not among them. In fact, he hated the heat and the sweat escaped through the separations of the craggy rocks in his hide. Even though it had been a very important mission involving the Incredible Hulk,* he was glad it was over so he could return to the bearable Big Apple.

(* A story for another time -- Russ)

Over the past several weeks, the team had undergone several transformations since their altercation with the new and not-so improved Frightful Four. The four single members were the mainstays of the team with some very familiar extras thrown in for good measure. Since the day that Lila Storm, Johnny's futuristic descendant with a vast array of super-powers at her disposal, came to the decision that she would stay with the team, he had enjoyed her company.*

(* Lila was introduced in M2K's Fantastic Four #14 -- Russ)

Right at this very moment, the lovable Thing was walking down a very crowded section of New York City, noticing that nothing could faze the citizenry. A super being, one as mutated as he, was commonplace in this town.

He entered the First National Bank, with a withdrawal slip in his hand. He needed to take a considerable amount of money for his bills and expenses at Four Freedoms Plaza. He had a separate phone line from the rest of the team and he had called his Aunt Petunia a lot recently.

The bank was crowded at this early time in the day, nearly past noon and well into the lunch hour, and he had to wait in line for a couple minutes until a very blonde, equally perky bank teller withdrew his funds.

"How are you doing, Mr. Grimm?" she asked, sorting out the money.

The Thing liked her to call him by his proper name instead of his super hero codename. It meant that she respected him as a person or she was too scared to do otherwise. He preferred the former and perished at the thought of the latter.

"Fine. I took a trip to Arizona last week and--"

It was then that it happened. A group of smartly dressed gentleman entered the bank through the front entrance, brandishing different kinds of weaponry that the Thing didn't recognize. They were masked, allowing them to see through their eyeholes. And it looked to the Thing that they meant business. Dirty business.

"Excuse me, miss, but I think it's clobbering time!!" the Thing let the bank teller know.

"I want everyone to hug the floor. If you don't know this is a stickup!" one of the gang members said, probably the one who was the leader. He saw that the Thing was still standing. "That means you, you orange freak!"

"Now, I'm really scared," the Thing said, as he walked toward the not-so-far threatening gang members, toting guns. He hadn't known the power that these guns housed within them but he was sure he would find out soon enough. "Everyone stay back! I'll handle this!"

"I think not, Grimm! Take him, Rocky!" With this command spoken, the gang leader, who had been nameless thus far, ordered his right-hand man to launch an attack with the certain brand of weaponry at their disposal.

The Thing saw the entire scene unravel before him, as the man called Rocky pulled the trigger of what looked like an ordinary rifle. Instead of firing bullets, it seemed to fire nothing short of plasma drawn from the sun itself. The Thing had been hanging around Reed long enough to know what that looked like and felt like. Big Brain and his experiments, he thought.

If he were an ordinary human being, Ben Grimm's face would have been reddened from the heat of the plasma rifle. He would have felt the heat but he just laughed it off. Though it did him no real damage, the force of the blast made him step a few feet back.

"Yer gonna haveta do better'n that to do away with Mrs. Grimm's blue eyed son!" Like many of his foolhardy nemeses, they didn't back off from his repeated attacks, nor he from theirs. He was confidant that he could save the day, like Mighty Mouse did on many occasions.

"We plan to," the gang leader said. He ordered another of his gang members, who had worn the leather jackets with the emblem of the Thunder Gods insignia on their backs. He heard about their escapades in the papers, how they were cop killers and were known to brandish high-tech weaponry. So this was nothing out of the ordinary.

The next array of guns boasted electricity and the effect was true to that boast. Electromagnetic energy housed within the gun crackled around him and caused him to fall to his knees. It was such concentrated punishment that he wasn't sure how much he could take before he was beaten.

"Like I said before, you're gonna haveta do better'n that, fellas!"

"As you wish."

The third gun at their disposal did something incredible to the Thing. Energy waved in and out of his body suddenly, he felt decidedly weaker and paler by the second.

He kept on staring at his fingertips, as they transformed from skin colored orange to a pinkish hue. He was back to good ol' Ben Grimm, for real this time.

"We'll take our leave now! The Thunder Gods never wanted the bank's vault money, just to do that little thing we just did, Mr. Grimm! We'll let them handle you for now on."

"What the?!?"

And then, the Thunder Gods made their hasty retreat, leaving one very powerless Fantastic Four mainstay.

All at once every customer in the bank, the bank tellers, and the pedestrians outside on the street converged on the lone former super being, with frowns upon their faces, and hatred evident on their emotional levels. They took everything that could be construed into a viable weapon and hurled it at the hapless hero.

"It looks like I'm deep in shinola," Ben said, as he backed himself into a corner. With his rocky hide, he could have faced this terror but as a regular human being, he would surely not survive. And it looked like this was gonna hurt, no matter what way he looked at it. "Hey, you don't wanna do this. All the pretty ladies would really frown upon having my beautiful face bruised."

"You caused this, you caused our pain," they said in unison. They chanted mantras as they approached him with arms outstretched. And then, they were all over him.

The mob surrounded him, chanting more ridiculous mantras at him. He didn't know how to defend himself because he didn't want to inadvertently hurt any of these innocent people. A stray punch or any sign of violence could cause a mass riot and he didn't want that.

Then, he was enveloped and he fell to his knees. He was forced down. And so, it happened. The mob of people thrust their punches and kicks at him, hurting him this way and that. He soon lost consciousness. And like a thing possessed, they soon lost interest and went about their way.

Minutes passed and there were three new arrivals on the scene.

"What do you think happened, Reed?" The blonde haired youth said.

"It looks like he was reverted to his human form because of a reverse exposure to some kind of cosmic rays," the elastic one said.

"We'd better get him back to the Plaza. He looks severely beaten", the woman said.

"In a surprising turn of events, Benjamin J. Grimm, otherwise known as the super-powered Thing of Fantastic Four fame, received a defeat at the hands of an ordinary mob of angry citizens today at the First National Bank. It seems that a member of an elusive gang that pretended to rob the bank earlier today possessed a super-powered weapon that bent cosmic rays to its own evil ends to transform the rocky super hero into a normal human being.

"Then, as a final stroke of his defeat, a mob of people surrounded him, defenseless as he was, and beat him to a living pulp. Where does this leave us, the ordinary man and woman? How can we trust the super hero sect? If they can't defeat a mob of people, then who can they defeat? This and many other questions are raised, as an equal angry mob waits in impatient vigil outside Four Freedoms Plaza..."

It was not too many minutes previously that the Human Torch turned off the television set within the Rec Room of Four Freedoms Plaza and headed for Wilhelmina Lumpkin's apartment in another section of town. He desired to protect her from the mob of people that wanted nothing more than the death of the Fantastic Four.

Lila Storm, his very descendant, was worried that she might be needed on this very important mission but Johnny told her that this was nothing more than a grab and go mission. He didn't expect to encounter the mob because how many citizens knew the address of Miss Lumpkin. Not too many, he wagered.

As night descended on the city, it didn't look too bad for him to go searching for a dear friend. There were patches of mob activity at certain sections of the city but not, he suspected, at her apartment.

He was genuinely surprised when he saw a circle of angry protesters at her very doorstep. He definitely didn't expect this. Oh, well, live and learn, he thought.

His first mission, the most important one, was to get Willie and get her the hell out of here with no time to spare. The mob of people was practically breaking down the door.

Johnny knew her apartment number from Reed's files. He decided to take the easy way in. Through the roof.

CRASH!

He broke the door down with his fiery fist and saw nothing. "Billie!! Miss Lumpkin!! We need to leave now!"

After much searching, she was nowhere to be found. She was not in her home.

There was another crash, this one made by the protesters. They converged on him, hungry for the kill.

First, there was a blackness, next a voidless silence that seemed to envelop all of her senses. And suddenly, Willie Lumpkin's eyes opened and she was surrounded by two threatening individuals.

The Psycho-Man

And the Hate Monger in a new identity.

"Uh-oh, I'm in a lot of trouble now," she said, as she struggled with her bonds. "What do you want from me?"

The Psycho-man stepped forward. "Simple, dear girl. Just all of the FF's secrets and their powers. You will show me how to enter FF Plaza and gain those secrets."

"Oh, dear."