* 1st Appearance "Cynthian Associates" (Company owned by Dr. Doom)

Several days after the Fantastic Four's disbanding, Johnny Storm gets off a westbound jetliner in Oklahoma, where he is met by Wyatt Wingfoot and a group of Keewazi Indian children. Johnny is surprised and glad to see Wyatt there, because he was not looking forward to starting a new life for himself as a race driver alone. Wyatt explains that the children are his students, and as soon as they see that Wyatt knows the Human Torch, they ask the Torch to put on a show. Johnny does a few flame tricks, which are also observed by a sinister figure nearby. It is nice of the Torch to entertain the children, he muses, but tomorrow he and Johnny will have a "Showdown" that will leave Johnny "face down in the desert." Back in New York, the doorbell buzzes at Alicia Masters's apartment, but when she answers it, she finds only a package. Ben Grimm is busy packing a suitcase, because he has been hired by NASA to test a new space shuttle. Unfortunately, he accidentally crushes it when he loses patience trying to close it. He also destroys Alicia's antique bed. When Alicia hands Ben the package, they hear ticking sounds. Alarmed, Ben immerses it in a sink full of water, thinking it is a bomb left by a foe. But it turns out to be an ordinary pocket watch, a gift from the Yancy Street Gang, who wish Ben well in his new career. Sniffling, Ben says he will miss the perennial nuisances.

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