After Alicia's being kidnapped by Her a few issues back (and the Sandman before that), Ben breaks up with Alicia for her own protection. Miserable, he returns to the Baxter Building, and tries to talk about it with Reed. Before they can even start, they're interrupted by visitors- Walt Newell, an oceanographer, and Dr. Henry Croft, who looks completely human save that his skin is scaled like an amphibian's.
Dr. Newell explains that he and the rest of a planeload of people were hijacked and experimented on by a mad scientist who had turned them all into their amphibian forms. Namor, the Submariner, had rescued them, but they were still trapped in their green forms. Dr. Newell (also known as Stingray) was struck by their resemblance to Triton, of the Inhumans, and had brought Dr. Croft to the F.F. in hopes that they could put them in touch with the Inhumans. Reed takes them into the lab, and Ben heads off to the gym to work his tensions off, where he promptly falls asleep on the exercise bench.
The next morning, Reed gets Ben, and Ben agrees to take Dr.s Newell and Croft out to California to meet up with Triton. While waiting for Triton to arrive, Dr. Newell and Ben make a short side trip to investigate an oil derrick (in a place where no known oil exists) that has aroused his suspicions...
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