Fantastic Force #2
Zarathustra
Eight miles beneath the Arctic Circle exists a massive complex called Heaven. Inside the warrior woman known as Zathustra battles against a number of men, easily defeating them before her master Lord Moses who tells her that she is ready to go outside and carry out a mission in his name.
Meanwhile at the Manhattan headquarters of the newly formed Fantastic Force, Psi-Lord introduces his team to their training room. While Devlor is sufficiently impressed, Vibraxas is not and is repared to storm out when Franklin uses his powers to shut the door in front of him. This angers Vibraxas who wishes to go about as he pleases despite T'Challa's insistance that Franklin keep an eye out for him. When Vibraxas insists on going out for evening air, Psi-Lord conceeds and allows the hot-headed youth to go. This leads to recriminations from Huntara who tells Franklin off for coddling his teammates, an action unbefitting of a Psi-Lord and she also storms out.
Meanwhile at the newly rebuilt campus of Empire State University, Daily Globe reporter Paul Alvarez meets with Professor Issac Sandor to interview him on his recent invention, the Omnivirus, which he believes will be able to cure all illness that threatens the human race. Alvarez questions the ethics, asking Sandor what about the dangers of playing God. Sandor admits that the discovery could be misused, but insists that this is a great discovery for man. Their interview is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Zarthustra who has come to collect the Omnivirus for Lord Moses. She confronts Professor Sandor and demands that he hand it over to her.
Back at the Fantastic Force loft, Huntara is pushing Devlor to discover the upper limiths of his strength when suddenly Psi-Lord's "Hound Scars" appear on his face warning them of nearby danger. Huntara also detects a dimension interference with hir Psychthe. Deciding the two are connected, Huntara uses her weapon to cut open a portal in time and space to take them to the location of the danger. They arrive in the middle of Zathustra's interrogation of Professor Sandor and a fight breaks out. Outnumbered, Zathustra calls for reinforcements who begin pouring in through another portal. While Psi-Lord and Devlor fight off the arriving army, Huntara goes after Zathustra. With the odds against them, Franklin wishes that Vibraxas had not stormed off earlier as they could use his help.
Elsewhere in the city, Vibraxas is walking through the streets questioning his king's judgement in pairing him up with the rest of Fantastic Force. Wandering into the middle of the street he answers the blair of a car horn and racist epitaths of it's driver by using his powers to destroy the engine. Suddenly Vibraxus' attention is turned toward nearby Empire State Univeristy as Huntara and Zarthustra come smashing out of a wall and out into the street. When he tries to use his powers agianst Zarthustra, she retalliates with an electrified whip. She downs both Vibraxas and Huntara and is about to land a killing blow on the latter when Psi-Lord and Devlor join their teammates on the street. However, Zarthustra manages to overpower them all and with the only sample of the Omnivirus, she teleports away. Devlor tries to chase after her, but the portal closes before he can pass through it. This leads to Vibraxas being hard on Devlor again, and Huntara responds by knocking him out. In the aftermath of the battle, Psi-Lord apologizes to Professor Sandor for losing the sample of the virus, but Issac is not overly concerned as it can be recreated, but Franklin vows that they will try to recover the stolen sample anyway. He secretly hopes that they can succeed in order to expunge the fiasco of their second mission.
Back in Heaven, Lord Moses is pleased that Zathustra was able to recover the Omnivirus, however he is troubled when he plays back the footage of the battle and notes that Franklin Richards is using Psi-Armor from Elsewhen. He vows that while Richards and his Fantastic Force intend to battle for the greater good, they will be cut down by the greated agenda of Lord Moses.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Force (Psi-Lord, Huntara, Vibraxas, Devlor), Professor Sandor, Paul Alvarez, Zarathustra, Lord Moses
Continuity Notes
A partial origin of Zarthustra and Lord Moses is provided in Fantastic Force #10-11 and 17. However they were not fully explained because the Fantastic Force series was eventually cancelled and as of 2016 the characters have not been seen since.
The teenage Franklin seen here was delivered to the modern age by Nathaniel Richards from Earth-6311 to replace his Earth-616 counterpart. This occurred in Fantastic Four #376. Although everyone reacts as though this is Earth-616's Franklin all grown up, the young Franklin is returned in Fantastic Four #413. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #14 confirms that they are separate entities. Franklin believes that his mission was to stop the Dark Raider from destroying the Fantastic Four as explained in Fantastic Four #387, however this is part of a larger scheme to stop Hyperstorm that is not realized until Fantastic Four #414.
Mention is made to how the Human Torch accidentally set fire to Empire State University. That happened in Fantastic Four #371, resulting in the Fantastic Four agreeing to pay the damages as seen in Fantastic Four #375.
Psi-Lord and Huntara's connections to Elsewhen and Warlord Kargul were explored in Fantastic Four #390.
