Four Freedoms Plaza

"Ben, hold still!" Reed Richards commanded as he pointed a new invention at the human form of Ben Grimm.

Ben had to admit that he was still nervous around any of Reed's toys. Even though he hung around Reed as a close friend, he never got quite used to his inventions. They could be deadly. In fact, it was one of Reed's crazy joyrides into space that turned him into the Thing in the first place. But above everything else, he trusted Reed like a brother. This time was no different.

"This better work, Reedie boychick," Ben said, as he closed his eyes to welcome the ray. "Or you're gonna have one angry FFer."

"Yeh, brother-in-law," Johnny said, who watched from a safe distance, along with Susan and Lila. "You don't want him to get angry with you. If you thought his breath was horrible, wait'll you see him in a bad mood."

"Johnny, please," Susan chided her brother. "The last thing that Reed needs now is to have someone, especially you, break his concentration."

"This should prove interesting," Lila whispered, listening to Susan's warning.

Then, with the pull of a master control switch, Reed shot a ray at Ben Grimm. For several seconds, Grimm's human form glowed yellow until it seemed nothing was happening and Reed's new experiment would have been a complete failure. But it wasn't a failure, Reed thought, it was working and a success.

Ben began to change. His peach-hued hide transformed into orange craggy rocks.

Ben Grimm was once more... the Thing!

When the experiment was over, Reed finally spoke. "So, Ben, how do you feel?"

The Thing smashed his orange fists together in glee. "I feel like a whole new man again! I'm the Thing. Even though I prefer to be good ol' Ben Grimm forever (it wouldn't be such an eyesore on the ladies), I know we got us to a fight to fight. I wouldn't be much use to the FF as Ben Grimm."

"That's certainly a mouthful, ugly," Johnny said, as the female members of the team, even Lila, rushed to where the Thing was. They seemed pleased to have him back again.

"Oh, Johnny, don't you ever stop?" Susan asked.

"Don't worry, Suzie," the Thing said. "Nothing that the little matchstick can say will bother me. I'm too happy to be back in this body." He turned to Reed. "So, what was that doohickey that you shot at me?"

Reed smiled. "Only a simple Electromag gun that I whipped up at the last moment. It can tap into different forms of radiation. Luckily, I calibrated it with cosmic ray propulsion."

"Oh, 'only'. Simple for you but complicated for us normal folks." The Thing removed himself from the overhang that protected the others from the radiation. "Now what, Big Brain?"

Reed jumped down from the chair that he had been situated on to perform the experiment and joined the other members of the team. "Now, we search the city for the weapons that the Thunder Gods gang used on Ben days before and use them to put the kibosh on the Hate Monger, the Psycho Man, Malice, and the Super Skrull. I wonder what Captain K'lrt wants with us. I doubt that the Skrull Empire will form an alliance with them."

"Then, need I say it... it's clobberin' time!"

The FF went to the Pogo Plane to begin their search.

The Warehouse District

In another section of town, the newly formed, yet infamous street gang called the Thunder Gods gathered in a warehouse. Some were dozing off because they found this meeting tiresome. While others found it intriguing because this was a way to further themselves. The leader, who was now speaking, found it as a way to finally destroy what he felt was left of the Fantastic Four and take over the criminal gangs and mobs currently ruling the streets of Manhattan. Finally, he saw it as a way to destroy the ones who controlled this group and also gave them their current reason for existence, and introduce Malice into their membership. He saw no reason why a sexy blonde clad in studs and leather shouldn't be a member of a male dominant gang.

"Now, all of you yahoos who think that you are above this," the leader ranted on, believing every word that he spoke and hoped to inspire the others, like Hitler did to Nazi Germany during the Big One, " listen up, 'cos this concerns you, too. It concerns all of us."

"Why don't you git to the point already?" Ted asked. He was known as the instigator of the group, always there to get the leader and his close band of followers riled up, more so than the leader could to his own members.

"I am. Or at least, yer missin' the point here. We're bigger than this mission that the Hate Monger gave us. Incapacitate the Thing and make 'im totally helpless and useless?! Gimme a break. We should set our sights higher than that. I think that we should use these weapons that the Psycho-man gave us and take over the city. How many of youse are wit' me?" The leader raised his machine gun in the air, as high as he was able, and waited for the others to do likewise.

Everyone raised their hands.

"No one can stop us," the leader said.

"We are invincible," they chanted, fueled by the Hate Monger's emotion-wielding powers. They were still within his range.

"Not even the Fantastic Four," the leader continued.

"Not even-" they chanted their mantra and were interrupted in mid-sentence by the very people they have sworn to defeat.

"I dunno how many times I gotta say it until it goes through yer thick skulls-but it's clobberin' time!!" the Thing shouted as he landed in the center of the warehouse. The rest of the FF soon followed suit.

"Rocky, hit 'im wit' that gun agin," the leader shouted, in tune with the Thing's battle cry.

"Let's see you dodge this," Rocky said, whipping out his gun and aiming it at the Thing's chest.

"Not so fast, Rocky, I think your nomenclature is!" This last comment was uttered by Mr. Fantastic. He threw his arm forward, stretching it beyond belief, and knocked the gun out of the man's reach before he could react. "Invisible Woman, you know what to do now," he commanded to his wife.

"Sure, Reed, you don't have to tell me twice."

Then Sue, following Reed's orders that he made on their way here, wrapped up that weapon in her invisible shield.

The Thing started punching the mob members physically, hoping against hope that they would be foolish enough to drop their weapons and give up. But it wasn't quite as easy as that. Instead, the gang members fired their weapons randomly, because they feared they would be defeated without the special gun that could take away each member of the FF's powers.

"Hey, Reedie, I got me an idea about how we kin win this fight but yer gonna haveta trust me on this one." The Thing said, in between punches.

"Whatever you do, Ben, remember these people are innocent victims of the Hate Monger and his entourage," Reed warned.

"Victims, yeh. But innocent? That, I'm not so sure," the Thing offered as his rebuttal. The Thing was referring to their cohesiveness as a gang.

Almost having a sign of precognition, the gang predicted what the Thing wanted from them. The Thing knew that if he simulated combat with their leader, they would back off. But as the Thing approached him, they encircled him and tried to prevent him from doing that.

So, the Thing pushed forward.

And the gang pushed back.

But the gang was no match for the Thing's superhuman strength.

"This is ridiculous... flame on!!" shouted Johnny Storm who just turned into the Human Torch. "This is getting' us nowhere. Ready, Sue?"

"Ready, brother o'mine." "Then, let's hit it. We don't want you, just your weapons." With that spoken, Johnny Storm made the weapons catch a little on fire and that made them let go. Sue gathered the weapons into her force bubble.

"Well, if you want the easy way out..." the Thing said.

"C'mon, Ben, let's get out of here and do what we came here to do," Reed said.

Central Park

"The flare signal I sent to the Hate Monger and co.," Mr. Fantastic said to the those FF members assembled in the Pogo Plane, "And the television broadcast should bring them out in the open. I thought Central Park would be the ideal place for them because there wouldn't be a whole lot of people there."

"Great thinkin', Reed," the Thing said, uneasy in his chair and ready for battle. "I know now why we appointed you leader of this little chicken outfit."

"Oh, Ben, that's hardly the case and how it worked out," Susan offered. "I perish to think of how the group would have lasted if you were leader. The only thing out of your mouth would be 'it's clobbering time.'"

"Yeh, Ben, you should listen to Sis," the Human Torch said. "We need the ol' Big Brain 'cos how else could we turn you back to Ben Grimm if even for a short time."

"Why you!!"

"Okay, team, calm down we're here," Reed said. "And so are they. Get ready for a fight and Ben, you may say it now-"

"Okay, if you insist. It's-clobberin' time!!"