Reporter Isabel Aguirre and photographer Gordon Clay traveled to the monastery to learn why these monks associated with Doctor Doom. They found the monks slaughtered and also find the armored Crucible. Crucible forced Aguirre and Clay on a plane and they are flown to Europe while Crucible states that he was the crucible from which would a new world would be formed. Crucible transformed them into stone gargoyles to smuggle them through immigration. In Stockholm, Sweden, Crucible restored them to life, and coerced them into serving him or risk being turned back into stone gargoyles. Crucible then attacked a science symposium to draw out Mister Fantastic. While using a decoy device disguised as a bomb to draw away the Thing, Crucible fought Reed Richards and activated a device that would drain his inventive genius and transfer it into himself before escaping.