As Dr. Doom is preparing for yet another confrontation with the Fantastic Four, Diablo suddenly appears and offers to form an alliance. Doom initially declines, but is forced to reconsider when Diablo reveals he has captured Doom's childhood friend Valeria. The three of them meet at Doom's castle in America, where Diablo outlines his plan to use Doom's time machine to take over the planet Earth. Doom feigns interest just long enough to get Diablo in position to use the time machine against him, sending Diablo into a distant post-apocalyptic future. Valeria, now freed from Diablo's spell, has witnessed all of this and can see that Doom is no longer the boy she once knew.

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