Over the skies of New York

"Well, that was nice and dandy," the Thing complained as he flew the Pogo plane back to Four Freedoms Plaza. He was in his usual irate moods. "We go all the way to fight good ol' Doc Doom 'cos we find out that he was the one responsible for that whole Hate Monger thing that has been plaguing us for the past couple of weeks, and we don't even dethrone him or whatever. We should have at least carted his sorry ass to the Vault or something or other.'

Reed laughed out loud. "I have known Victor since our early college days at State University and I just can't picture him in jail or incarcerated in any form. No matter how much we would want it otherwise."

"Reedie boy, he is about as bad as they come," Ben continued. "What I would give to have him in jail like the rest of them. He's up there with the original Frightful Four. But that was back when Medusa was a bad girl. Now she's with the royal family of the Inhumans. What I wouldn't give to see them again. It has been too long since our last adventure with them. But that was when she was with the Undying Force and then, Alicia, my former sweetheart, got those powers instead…"

At that very moment, there was an incredible light display to the outside of the Pogo Plane and when it disappeared, the Thing saw that there was a new arrival whom he opened the hatch to welcome her in.

"Alicia!!" Johnny Storm said, embracing his wife, as she powered down. "Or should we start to call you Undying now."

"Alicia is fine," she said. "I'm not all that comfortable with these new powers and I was hoping that Reed could help me control these powers of mine."

Johnny put her down. He realized that he was being too excited. And he could see that she was too much in a serious mood to enjoy the embrace.

"No sweat, 'Licia," Johnny said, letting her sit beside him in a seat. "I'm sure that Reed would have no problem helping you out. I mean, if he can turn the Thing back to his Ben Grimm form for a time than he could do the same for you."

"Don't mind my asking," Reed said. "But I thought that you were happy in your Undying Force form. What changed your mind?"

"Reed, don't you know how the rest of us felt when we first gained our powers," Sue said. "We hated it."

"Sue's right," Lila said, trying to offer a comforting opinion. "Not everyone is cut out for the super hero life."

"No, girls, it's all right," Alicia said, as Johnny put a reassuring arm around her slender body. "Reed, it's just that whenever I use my powers I find myself succumbing to a darker side of my personality and I'm afraid it may consume me."

"Whoa," Johnny blurted out. "No reason why you should go all Darth Vader on us."

"Thank you, Johnny," Alicia said.

Then, all of a sudden, Johnny embraced Alicia a final time and kissed her full on the mouth. It was a kiss that could outdo those seen by Mr. Storm in the movies and the ones that Alicia engaged in with the other men in her life, including the Thing.

The Thing separated the two. "Okay, you two lovebirds. Break it up. We're coming into FF Plaza."

Reed's Lab

"What do you have there?" Alicia Storm asked of Reed Richards, as he pointed a gun-type thing at her.

Reed looked at her through his specially-tinted goggles. "This is an Electromag gun that I used on Ben to turn him back into the Thing. I recalibrated it so that it should put some of your powers into remission while others should be dominant. I don't think, and I think you agree, that you are ready to deal with the all-powerful powers of the Undying Force. We must take this one step at a time."

"I agree," Alicia said, as she braced herself.

"Then, to quote a line from your darling husband, let's let 'er rip!!"

With a swift pull of the trigger, energy flashed out of the gun and enveloped the form of Alicia Masters Storm. It seemed to cause her no harm at first. Then, she screamed and buckled over in pain and collapsed on the white tiled floor below her. Johnny Storm rushed over to her side, flaming on, because he saw steam exude from her fallen form.

Flaming off his arms so that he can pick her up and hold her firmly in his powerful appendages, Johnny Storm turned to the stunned Reed Richards, still holding the smouldering gun, "Reed, if you've hurt her in any way, I'll never forgive you!!" Then, a soft voice sounded in his acute ears. It was the voice of his wife. It was Alicia Storm. "Johnny, don't get all excited. I'm fine. In fact, I feel better than I have in the months since I first became the Undying Force."

"What??"

"Alicia is right, Johnny," Reed said, approaching them, removing his goggles and setting down his Electromag gun on the counter. "If my experiment is a complete success, Alicia should be getting a handle on her powers at last. With hope and a steadfast heart, she should just have the powers of flight and able to shoot blasts of pure, unbridled force."

Johnny flamed off completely and set his wife on her own two feet. "Reed, I didn't know, I-"

"Don't think nothing of it, son. 'Twas a simple impulse. I'm just glad she's all right and she shouldn't be given in to the dark side of the Undying Force as she suspected."

All of a sudden, happy as can be, Johnny and Alicia kissed passionately. They thought that Reed was the only audience to their passion play but one other saw their kissing.

One other.

The Thing, who upon seeing this display, retired to his room, to sleep it off.

I never thought that I would say this, the Thing thought, as he entered his quarters to take a nap, but I kinda wish that 'Licia and I were still an item. If ever there was a chance for her to dump Johnny like second hand news, I would take her back in a second.

But, Ben now knew that he could never have Alicia again because she was madly in love with Johnny Storm, his team-mate and best friend. It still bothered him to see the two lovebirds, as he liked to call them, enthralled in each other's arms. He remembered the times when Ben and Alicia were together but that seemed, to him, to be a lifetime away. Now, that she was the Undying Force to stay it was harder for her to ever come back to him again. Her powers were more similar to the Human Torch's than to the Thing's. They were an inseparable item now than ever before.

Placing his powerful arms beneath his head, the Thing started to doze off and was soon plunged into dreams. In his dreams, he was still the Thing and things haven't changed a bit in his tortured lovelife.

In the dream, he opened his eyes to find himself in a bedroom that he recognized as his own. There were friends, girlfriends, and colleagues there accompanying him.

"Alicia?!" The Thing said, approaching his former girlfriend. "You still love me, don't you?"

"How could I love a musclebound monster like you? You're ugly and who could love a bunch of cosmic ray-irradiated orange rocks like you when I have a real man like Johnny Storm around to give me a happy life??"

"But we were an item before the squirt came along to take you away from me??"

"Oh, shut your orange puss," Storm said, while throwing a flame pie at him that disintergrated upon contact.

Enter girlfriend number two. Sharon Ventura, the second Ms. Marvel.

"At least, you still love me, Sharon," the Thing said. "C'mere, babe, let me give you a hug."

"Who would want to hug you when you make me into this?" Sharon said, as she transformed into the first female Thing. "I'm sorry, Shar, it wasn't my fault, it was those damn cosmic rays."

"I still love you, Ben," a new arrival said. He turned around to see Lila Storm in her form-fitting FF costume.

"Lila, what?!"

"And as long as we're together on this team, I will try my best to express my love for you." With that, the two engaged in a long kiss.

The Thing woke up.

The dream was over and what a dream it was.

"I don't know if it's safe for me to have a doozy of a dream like that again," the Thing whispered.

"You say something, Ben," Lila said, as she entered his room.

"Oh, nothing. What are you doing here, Lila?" he asked.

"Reed wants you, Ben."

Later, after the Fantastic Four had left due to a new menace threatening the city, Lila Storm was left behind to guard the FF HQ. She also gave this as a great opportunity to babysit her infant son, Brake. He lay down in his crib in the nursery. One of these days, she would like to have Franklin, Reed and Sue's child, to play with Brake but he was off with Power Pack. Maybe when he had a day off from his life as a junior super hero.

She was lucky, after feeding him milk, and reading him a bedtime story, he fell right asleep.

Now, she had to do the hardest part, which was waiting for the FF to come home safe and sound. She took a book from Sue's library and began reading it.

It was moments later when she heard a loud crash from when one of the windows. She heard it immediately and she went to check it out. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that the peace and quiet wouldn't last long. Running out of the nursery, leaving an alone Brake, she saw a figure standing proudly before her. It was the Wizard, she recognized from reading the files on the FF's villains.

"What do you want, Wizard? I don't have time for your psycho-babble." Lila moved closer to him, preparing to use her powers.

"I saw your picture on the news the other day. You are the new one, Lila Storm. You probably have a relation to the Storm siblings. But I have no need for the Fantastic four or any of their members, new or otherwise. Other matters occupy my mind." He paused and took out an anti-gravity disc from a compartment in his helmet and threw it at Lila. "Now, to relieve myself of your meddlesome prescence so that I can do my business…"

"What are you talking about? What are you doing?" Lila asked.

The disc fixed itself to her stomach and she immediately flew in circles around the Wizard. She was spinning so fast and with so much motion that she got nauseous. Lila hit herself against the window that the Wizard came in from and he deattached the disc from her to retrieve it.

Inside Reed's lab, the Wizard saw the object of his search.