(narrator)
They say that the world can be changed by three little words. What immediately pops into your head are the words: “I. Love. You”. But those were not the words spoken several months ago that changed... everything.
Several months ago...
The Scarlet Witch, floating in mid-air, casts one of her hex-spells and speaks out the terrible words: “No. More. MUTANTS!”
In the flash of a moment, the deed was done. Thousands of mutants simply... ceased to exist. In the center of all things Homo superior was, of course, Charles Xavier, aka Professor X. And his counterpart in the coin of life... Magneto. Wanda didn’t just take power from these two that fateful day. She did something... else. Was it intentional? We’ll never really know. Wanda wasn’t exactly in her right mind, y’see. A few crayons short of a box… People talk a lot what was lost on that day. Not just their “mutant powers.” For some, it was their purpose in life. It defined them. For some, it was life itself. So, the next morning, when there were only something like 198 mutants left on Earth, it was as if an entire race of people had died. Genocide by magic I guess.
Yeah. They talk a lot about who and what died that day. What they should’ve been looking for was the thing that got born. Or in this case… reborn.
From out of a star-filled, night sky, a shooting star crashed on planet Earth, on impact drilling a huge hole in the ground. Smoke rises from the crater, followed by a dark entity. And the dark entity is none other than... ONSLAUGHT?! Onslaught’s first question when he stands up, is: “Where... is the boy? Where is Franklin Richards?!”
Today, at the Negative Zone...
The dimension was discovered by Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, aka the Smartest Guy in the World. It’s also the dimension where Franklin is currently running for his life! Franklin fires the enormous gun he holds wildly, and calls out to his uncle Ben for help, as he’s being chased! Flying on an asteroid behind him, Blastaar charges up his powers, and shoots them at Franklin. Franklin can dodge it and again calls out to Ben. The Thing appears and immediately punches Blastaar, aka the living bomb-burst, into his face! On that moment, everything turns black. Franklin fears that Ben “broke it”. Ben defends himself he didn’t do that. Franklin thinks that perhaps Ben hit Blastaar too hard.
Ben wonders how that could be possible... After all, they’re inside one of Reed’s video games! And Franklin knows he can’t hit anything for real. A better question in Ben’s mind is why Reed’s generators haven’t kicked in yet. It isn’t like Mr. Big Brain to let something like this happen when there’s all kinds of experiments going on. Johnny flies into the room, and his flames help light up the room. Ben asks Johnny if maybe he knows what’s going on.
But Johnny is looking a bit strange. He has an evil look in his eyes and suddenly attacks Ben! With an evil voice, Johnny shouts at his teammate that, if he protects the child, he’ll die along with him. Ben tells Franklin to get behind him, which he does. Ben doesn’t think Johnny is fooling around as usual, and asks Franklin to go get his mom and dad. As Franklin runs away, Johnny hits Ben with his flames, though Ben is unscratched. He wants to believe he isn’t fighting the real Johnny, and a Doombot instead. Or, maybe it is Johnny and he’s being mind-controlled by someone like the Puppet Master. Either way, Aunt Petunia’s favorite nephew refuses to get barbequed! Ben lifts up a huge panel and slams it on Johnny, apologizing in advance if it hurts him.
Johnny immediately recovers and, still talking with an evil tone in his voice, claims that Ben can’t stop him. Ben disagrees. He slams his way through the wall, until he finds the cable that helps bring water to the building. He rips the cable loose from the others, and sprays an immense amount of water at the Torch! Smoke fills the room, but Ben can see that Johnny’s still standing, and heading his way. Ben asks Johnny to speak to him. Johnny literally shoots fire from his eyes, and says the words “More power. New powers.” Ben thinks that Johnny has gone nuts, because he knows he doesn’t have powers like “fire vision.” Ben dodges the flames, but then realizes something. Johnny wasn’t aiming at him, but at the wall behind him!
Johnny punches Ben outside the building, and they fall to the street below. What a revoltin’ development this is! Ben exclaims, before Ben hitting a cab. The cab driver can just in time get out before the impact, but fears that he’s going to hear about this from his wife. Ben gets up and apologizes to the driver, telling him to send the Fantastic Four a bill so they can buy him a new one. Ben looks up in the sky and sees that Johnny’s trying to Nova himself out, so that whoever’s inside him won’t have much use of him. After succeeding, Johnny gets back to normal and falls into Ben’s arm. Out of breath, Johnny tries to warn Ben that “he” is back. He... “On...” Before Johnny can say anything more, he faints. Ben tells Johnny to relax, as he took the all fight out himself.
Inside the Baxter Building...
Franklin runs scared through the building, calling out to his parents. Reed’s stretched neck appears behind a corner and is glad to find his son alright. Franklin informs his dad there’s something wrong with his Uncle Johnny, as he wants to hurt his uncle Ben. Reed gets back to normal, and then stretches his arms around Franklin’s body, claiming that’s the reason why they have to get him to safety. Reed knows a place where they can hide from him. Franklin wonders who they have to hide from, and admits he’s scared. Reed tells Franklin to be brave and promises to take him to a place where their enemy can’t reach him.
Franklin sees his dad opening a window, and a place with lots of asteroids in it. He recognizes the dimension and refuses to be placed in the Negative Zone! Reed starts talking with the same evil voice Johnny used to speak with, telling Franklin he has nothing to be afraid of and that things will be over soon. Franklin realizes the truth: he’s not really talking to his dad! The voice claims that he’s within Franklin’s father, controlling his every thought. The enemy is certain that Franklin remembers who he is. Surely, he remembers... Onslaught!
Suddenly, Sue stops being invisible and reveals herself in the room, demanding that Onslaught put her son down right now. Onslaught, talking in Reed’s voice, asks her if she doesn’t mean he has to put down “their” son. Sue is certain that she isn’t fighting her husband, because he knows that she won’t let anyone hurt her son. Onslaught grins he knows that. It’s why he wants to deal with Sue so quickly and severely. Franklin cries out to everyone to stop fighting.
Sue puts an invisible force field around Reed’s head, thinking that whoever they’re dealing with still has to breathe. Onslaught tries to grab Franklin, but gets out of breath and Reed slowly starts turning back to himself. Sue orders Franklin to go get Ben and Johnny, and he does as told. Onslaught is certain that Sue won’t be able to keep up this strain. He’s right but, before Sue collapses, so does Onslaught!
Meanwhile outside, Ben is busy climbing his way back up the building, because of the high security around it, every door and window is locked down. He reaches the hole he fell through and climbs inside it, determined to find Franklin.
Franklin himself is back at his bedroom and is searching through his drawers. He finds what he was looking for: the blue ball! He knows what to do next. Onslaught appears behind Franklin, swearing that the boy won’t save his family this time. Franklin will be the first to die! And then, he will turn every hero this universe has ever known... On that moment, green fog comes out of the ball and fills the room. Franklin says that he loves his mom and dad very much... and then, he disappears! Onslaught is speechless.
Ben, in the meantime, has found Reed, and he asks how long he was unconscious. Ben doesn’t know as, at the time, he was too busy getting tossed out of the window! They reach Franklin’s bedroom and Ben rips the door open. Finding it empty, Reed panics. Ben promises Reed they’ll get his boy back, safe and sound. But he warns not to kid themselves because, wherever it is Franklin went, Ben is sure the kid’s in for a world of trouble. He finds Franklin’s ball, which now looks green instead of blue, and picks it up.
Elsewhere, on the top of the George Washington Bridge...
A costumed woman jumps towards the crying Franklin and asks what he’s doing there. Franklin mentions he’s hiding. The woman, Bucky, smiles Franklin sure picked a good place do that, as there’s not many people around here. Franklin introduces himself and adds that his parents are members of the Fantastic Four. Bucky has her doubts about that, because she thought Reed and Sue weren’t married, and surely didn’t have a child. Bucky asks Franklin who he’s hiding from.
On that moment, Onslaught appears behind the two, and grins. Bucky panics, as she recognizes the creature.
(narrator)
That was it. That’s when I met him. Or it. Or… whatever he was. Y’know, now, I can tell you what he was… the scariest thing I’d ever seen in my life…The biggest threat the Fantastic Four and the Avengers combined had ever gone up against. Unstoppable? He beat Thor. He beat the Hulk! And by the time he was done he would’ve killed everybody. So, you see… maybe even understand… why I had to die to save them all…
