The Human Torch and Toro fly over the city of Denver, immune to the bitterly cold wind blowing in from the surrounding mountains. On the streets below, people continue with their daily lives, oblivious to the fact that two living legends are flying overhead. As they fly over Denver, the Human Torch looks to his former partner, remembering a time when they did this with far greater frequency.

"I’ve got to admit," the Human Torch says, looking back at Toro, who is flying slightly behind him, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. "This does bring back a lot of memories, buddy."

"Yeah, for me too, Jim," Toro replies absently.

The Human Torch cannot help but be aware of Toro’s preoccupation. He understands how this life can be. Unlike Toro, however, he has never had a family and a chance to live the kind of life that Toro has lived in his absence. He cannot help but wonder if perhaps Toro has the right idea...and that Toro would have been better off not knowing about this "Ann Raymond"—if only he’d known that she was indeed an imposter.

"Toro," the Human Torch says, "do you have any idea who this woman can be who has been impersonating your wife?"

"No, Jim, I don’t," Toro replies, breaking out free from his thoughts at least for the moment. "And, I don’t mind telling you that it really bothers me. The thing that really scares me is that I don’t know how long this has been going on...considering that Immortus is somehow involved. From what I’ve been able to tell, I haven’t been out of real time for very long. Still, with him, anything’s possible."

"Did you ever have any luck reaching Ann," the Torch asks, as they fly over a cluster of mountains. "The real one, I mean?"

"No, but it doesn’t mean much," Toro replies, trying to convince himself as much as his old friend, and unable to shake that nagging feeling that maybe he has every reason to be afraid for his wife’s safety. "She’s probably in transit from picking up our daughter or something. And we haven’t joined the rest of America with getting cellular phones in our car. I thought it was pretty silly before, but now...!"

"We’re almost there, Toro," the Human Torch offers, trying to get his friend’s mind off concerns for his wife’s safety. "I doubt your wife is in any danger. After all, "Ann Raymond" has been running around for quite some time now. If she was after your wife, she would have made a move before now."

"She didn’t have any reason to before," Toro points out, as they fly over a series of mountains, approaching a lone house nestled in the valley. "She didn’t know that I was even around."

The two torches touch down in front of "Ann Raymond’s" house. The Torch quickly notices that her Chevy Blazer is not in her front yard, but makes no comment to the already anxious Toro.

"No one’s home," Toro comments, however. "Do you have a key, by chance?" Toro manages a half-smile.

"Not hardly," the Human Torch replies quickly, trying to mask the uncomfortable feeling he got when Toro asked him that question. "Why would Toro ask me that?" he thinks to himself, but decides to try to move on past it. "But I did learn a few things about picking locks during the war."

"Yeah," Toro responds, smiling as he remembers those days fondly. "We all had to learn to be thieves back then, didn’t we...except for Namor, of course. He never understood the need for stealth, or for closed doors for that matter!"

"That old water rat only understood the direct approach," Torch agrees, smiling slightly, as he puts a small object into the lock, turning it. "But the rest of us," he continues, as the door opens under his expert picking job, "we had to learn."

"Yeah, we did," Toro replies, as the two walk into the foyer of a small house. The house is approximately 1100 square feet, with three small bedrooms. The foyer is small, leading into a great room of 13x18 feet. "But I always got along pretty well with Namor."

"I know," Torch concedes. "I never understood that. He and I fought like cats and dogs almost from the beginning—when we pretty much wrecked New York. * But, he always seemed to like you."

The Torch picks up the phone, sitting on an end table next to the couch, and is surprised to find a dial tone. "This is odd," the Human Torch comments. "I thought ‘Ann’ had taken off when we arrived, but this place looks undisturbed...the phone even has a dial tone!"

"What was that?" Toro asks, turning his head away from the kitchen, where he had been looking at a painted waterfall scene. "Did you say the phone was on?"

"Yes, it is," the Torch replies. "So is the electricity. If she left, it was in a hurry. She didn’t take the time to turn anything off."

"Good," Toro replies, walking into the room, and picking the phone up. "I’ll try to get up with my wife again."

"Since ‘Ann’s’ supposed to be your wife, I don’t see how she could possibly mind," the Torch points out sarcastically.

"That’s what I was thinking," Toro responds, forcing a smile to his face.

The Torch stands in the room for a moment, looking increasingly uncomfortable as Toro dials the number. Although he played a big part in raising Toro after the death of his parents, he realizes that he knows very little about Toro’s life now, and feels like an outsider.

"I’ll, just look around to see if I can find anything that would suggest where she went," the Torch offers. Toro nods, as he listens to the phone start to ring. Torch returns the nod, and then walks out of the living room, into "Ann’s" bedroom.

In a small cafe in Berlin, five familiar figures sit around a table, drawing glances from people who mill about the cafe. A blond waitress walks up to their table, trying her best to ignore the fact that they are all wearing costumes.

"What can I get for you?"* she asks.

While Challenger makes the order for the entire group, the waitress jots notes down in her notepad. "We’re going to a costume party," Challenger offers.

"Of course," the waitress replies, not convinced, but also not wanting to explore the matter further. She turns and walks away, knowing that she’ll have to explain to the manager why five people at one of her tables are dressed as costumed adventurers—and she hasn’t decided how to explain that herself.

"I’m glad one of us speaks German," Tim comments. "I’m starved."

Captain Wonder smiles at Tim’s comments. "Has anyone felt a little...odd?" Captain Wonder asks. "I’ve felt half-asleep since we dug ourselves out of that bunker."

"Me too," Silver Scorpion replies. She is seated next to Challenger, who nods in agreement with them.

"I suspect that we all are," Challenger states. "But the effects should be wearing off. Are you starting to feel stronger now, and less tired?"

"I am," Fiery Mask chimes in. "My sleepiness didn’t last very long, but I did experience it for a short time, after we first got out of that bunker."

"You would recover first, given your powers," Challenger adds, without further comment. His words cause the others to look at him questioningly.

"You act like you know what’s happened to us?" Tim urges. "What’s on your mind?"

"Just a theory, Tim," Challenger replies dryly. "What’s the last thing that everyone remembers?"

"The Red Skull!" Tim says excitedly.

"We were all tracking him," Captain Wonder agrees.

"Right," Fiery Mask adds. "We were going to bring him to justice for war crimes. We’d followed him to Berlin."

"Yes," Silver Scorpion agrees. "And we had him in our sights. Then..."

"That’s right," Challenger says, nodding his head, as the others look on, trying to follow where he is going. "And then...?"

Tim shakes his head. Captain Wonder looks lost in thought, trying to remember what happened past that point. Fiery Mask looks on at the others, waiting to see if someone else remembers something that he has forgotten.

"I don’t remember anything past that!" Silver Scorpion says, looking at Challenger. "Do you? Does anybody?"

"I don’t think any of us do," Challenger points out. "Except for one thing...a small hint of gas. Then, we woke up, dug ourselves out of the bunker, finding that it had decayed with age...and we look around, finding that we’ve someone managed to propel ourselves nearly sixty yeas into the future."

"But, what you’re suggesting...it’s impossible!" Fiery Mask says, surprised by Challenger’s words.

"Not necessarily," Captain Wonder replies. "I think I know where you’re going with this. You think we’ve been in suspended animation all of this time?"

"That’s right," Challenger replies. "It explains the lapse in time, the fact that none of us remember a date past 1945, and the fact that we all have felt groggy since we ‘woke up’. We know that Hitler was experimenting with suspended animation. Baron Zemo and others were working on projects dealing with suspended animation during the war. Hitler was obsessed with immortality."

"Among other things," Fiery Mask points out, flippantly.

"I’ve been reading the local paper," Challenger continues. However, he notices that the waitress has returned, and stops momentarily. She passes out the food and drinks to the heroes assembled at the table.

"Can I get you anything else?" she asks, in German.

"No, thank you," Challenger replies, meeting the waitress’ eyes with his own. Breaking the eye contact quickly, she turns and walks to another table. "She’s a little afraid," Challenger thinks to himself, "but it’s not the same kind of fear that we used to see in the German people during the war. She just isn’t used to seeing people like us. The world has changed a lot since the war."

"What were you saying about the paper," Silver Scorpion asks, jabbing him slightly, but playfully, with her elbow. "Or are you too distracted? She’s not even half your age, you know!"

"Oh yes," Challenger says, breaking away from his thoughts, and smiling slightly at Silver Scorpion. He felt that they were growing closer in the last few months—at least the ones he remembers—but he is surprised (although pleasantly so, he has to admit) at her apparent jealousy. "It seems that the Human Torch has returned as well. From the reports, it would seem to be the Human Torch we remember."

"You’re suggesting that we track him down?" Captain Wonder asks.

"I don’t think we have any choice," Challenger replies. "If we’re going to get to the bottom of this, we’re going to need help."

The Human Torch stands in "Ann’s" bedroom, looking over her scrapbooks of old pictures from the war. He is startled by the sudden appearance of Toro, who walks into the room, a dejected expression on his face.

"No luck, Toro?" the Human Torch asks, looking up from the scrapbooks.

"Afraid not," Toro replies. "I still couldn’t get an answer." There is the unmistakable hint of frustration in Toro’s voice, although he tries to hide it from his old friend. He is trying hard not to think the worst about this situation, but is finding it increasingly difficult to do so.

"Maybe she and your daughter are out shopping?" the Torch offers. He has a sinking feeling about this entire set-up. He cannot believe that he was so deceived by "Ann" and her claims to be Toro’s wife. Now, it looks as though Toro’s family might be in danger because he failed to see through her deception. He has never liked to fail, particularly when his friends are on the line.

"Maybe," Toro replies, unconvinced. "I’m still not sure what’s going on, but I’ve got to find out fast!" he adds, to himself. "What are you looking at, Jim?"

"’Ann’ might not have been your wife," Torch offers, "but she was definitely one of your biggest fans. Look at all of this stuff!" The Torch pulls out several scrapbooks, and old newspaper articles, placing them on the bed and dresser. They are all pictures of Toro, although some have the Torch and other World War II heroes as well. Among the pictures shown are Toro and Bucky, standing in front of a large battleship; Toro flying into battle against the Parrot; Toro and the Human Torch facing off against Master Man; Toro and Captain America rushing into action; and Toro and Bucky with the Young Allies. There are many more pictures, many with accompanying articles, but they are tucked under the ones on top.

"Man!" Toro exclaims, surprised at seeing so many pictures of himself. "These are all pictures of me. I didn’t know there were this many pictures taken of me!"

"Well," the Torch replies with a slight smile. "Bucky always said that you never missed a photo opportunity."

"Yeah," Toro adds, flooded with memories of his friend from the war. "I tell you, Jim, I still miss that guy."

"We all do," the Torch replies.

"All of these pictures, though," Toro comments absently.

"And there are more scrap books, Toro," the Torch replies. "I found others in her closet, and her dresser. Her whole room is filled with pictures. Look at the walls."

As Toro does so, he sees still more pictures of himself, including a painting of his face...his human face. "She knew!" Toro says, surprised. "I don’t know how, but somehow, she knew!"

"At least she knew what you looked like," Torch agrees. "She wasn’t just one of your fans, Toro. You and Bucky certainly had your share of young female admirers during the war. But this...!"

"This is starting to make sense, in a strange way," Toro concedes, as he studies the scrap books. "There are fans and then there are...!"

Suddenly, a loud noise distracts the two heroes. They look at each other instinctively, then rush out of the room, the Human Torch leading the way. "It sounded like it came from the back door!" the Torch says to his partner, as they rush down the hallway.

The hallway leads into a den, where the back door is located. Just as they turn the corner, however, Human Torch is clotheslined around the neck by a rapid strike from a disc-shaped object. Before he can recover, he is struck again, as the base of the neck. The blow sends him back to the ground, unconscious.

"Jim!" Toro calls out, turning to his friend, instinctively.

Quickly, Toro is dealt a rapid blow to the face by the disc-shaped object, which is thrown in his direction. It careens off of a wall, even as he slumps to the floor, consciousness slipping away from him.

As Toro falls to the ground, he looks up to see a familiar red, white, and blue-garbed figure who he has not seen in many years, even as the familiar shield returns to his waiting hand. He cannot believe the sight his glossy eyes are showing him.

"CAPTAIN AMERICA!" Toro blurts out, just as a red boot slams into his face again, knocking him back to the ground, where his head slams hard against the floor, knocking him out.

A think stream of smoke trails into the back door, following behind "Ann", who walks into the room behind Captain America. Captain America’s eyes show no emotion, as he stands over his defeated foes. A bearded figure can be seen behind "Ann", just outside the door.

"Excellent work, my dear," the figure comments, stepping into the light, revealing himself to be Dr. Faustus. The "good doctor" is holding a filter cigarette in his right hand, while nodding with satisfaction, as "Ann" and Captain America look on blankly. "Our trap has been sprung at long last. Now, Captain, take them with us. We have much to do."

Needless to say, to be continued...

Welcome back to another issue of the Human Torch. Hopefully, everyone is enjoying the direction that this title is taking. We’re going to have some answers to all of these mysteries that have been brought up in this title, and hopefully, it’ll be fun for everyone. As always, your comments are greatly appreciated at jx2melton@aol.com. For now, though, let’s turn our attention to some comments on the previous issue.

"Human Torch" #6, by Jeff Melton.

For me, this character would be a little hard to write, with his robotic AND Golden Age background. I think people are usually bound by certain routes when they write an android or cyborg, or anything to that effect. But Jeff seems to embrace the "org" part of cyborg (which is a CYbernetic ORGanism) in the Human Torch series, especially in #6. Toro's return has a very human effect on the Torch, and the two play off of each other pretty well. My only complaint would be of the possible over-use of bold fonts, but

of course, that's coming from someone who uses up to 4 or 5 different fonts in some his scripts. I haven't read any of Barry Reese's issues, but so far Jeff's got my eye every month, along with Defenders, the Might Thor, X-Men, and All God's Children.

Will Short