Reed plummets from the 36th floor of the Baxter Building, but fortunately Thundra catches him in her powerful arms, to the amazement of the bystanders. Reed has had the wind knocked out of him, but he is still alive, and Thundra asks Medusa to help him while she climbs the Baxter Building to battle Mahkizmo. When she finds the warrior in Reed's laboratory, standing over the downed figures of the Human Torch and the Thing, his exhibition of male egoism nauseates her. Mahkizmo commands her to beg for mercy, but she asserts that no male alive can defeat her. Then Mahkizmo exclaims that he likes a woman with spirit, and the two figures slam into each other with explosive power. The energy of their collision revives the Human Torch and the Thing, but before the teammates can enter the fray, Thundra and Mahkizmo vanish in a flash of light. As Ben and Johnny try to figure out what happened, Medusa and Reed enter the room. Ben becomes annoyed when Medusa seems more concerned about Thundra than himself and Johnny, but Reed calms him down and reminds him that Thundra probably saved their lives. When Reed wonders how Thundra is involved with the giant, Medusa repeats Thundra's story about the world of Machus and the world of the Femizons. Thundra was sent to defeat the Earth's most powerful male, says Medusa, and Mahkizmo was sent to stop her. Somehow the world of Machus has begun to "slip over" into Thundra's world, and now Mahkizmo has taken Thundra back with him to Machus. Seven hours later, Reed is busy working on a modification to Dr. Doom's time machine. Sue has returned from her country vacation to assist him. Reed explains that Thundra allowed herself to be captured because a battle between herself and Mahkizmo could have destroyed the Earth. Three hours later, as dawn breaks over New York, the Human Torch enters through the window, and Reed announces that the machine is ready for testing. Reed hopes that the time machine will now be able to travel "sideways through time" as well as backward and forward.

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