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| Issue #2 March 2006 |
"Lockdown" Written By Tony Thornley |
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Reed Richards' pliable body flew towards the entryway into the deeper levels of the Antarctic complex. The Four had arrived only hours earlier, investigating the disappearance of an American team of Army scientists. After encountering a Skrull task force and mistaking them for the source of the disappearance, the Four and the Skrulls combined forces to search for the source of the team's disappearance. Ben and Johnny joined the search teams, while Reed and Sue searched for traces of the disappearance in the team's journals. Just moments ago, Ben and Johnny had found something.
"We're on the way!" Reed declared, his torso outracing his legs. As he heard Sue starting after him, he was surprised to see the steel door admitting entrance to the lower levels clang shut. Three deadbolts clanked into place in succession. Stopping, Reed spun to look at the Skrull commander, Retall.
"You did that!" he exclaimed. He nodded in response. Reed resumed his normal form and approached the alien, fury on his face. "My two best friends are down there with something which we haven't identified yet, and you just locked them down there with it!"
"And if they're as resourceful as stories claim they are, they will be okay!" the Skrull retorted. "Whatever our threat is, Doctor Richards, our best bet is finding a way to send it home while your friends combat them." The alien drew itself up to Reed's height. "It was a decision that field commanders make in battle all the time."
"This isn't war," Reed said. "This is an exploratory mission. You have unnecessarily endangered their lives"
"Reed, please," Sue pleaded. She turned to Retall and glared at him. "Have you ever had air in your bloodstream commander? Little bubbles of oxygen? It's a very painful experience. How about a force field bubble in your stomach that's slowly expanding? There's a hundred other ways I could do your body damage without killing you. Reverse the lockdown, or I'll start experimenting."
"Understood, Mrs. Richards." Retall looked down his nose at her angrily. The threat was not well received.
"Sue," Reed whispered. "It wasn't necessary to threaten him."
"Yes Reed," she replied, meeting her husband's eyes. "It was."
"Stretcho!" Ben exclaimed into his communicator. "Needing help!" The dark insect figures were creeping closer to himself, Johnny and the Skrull Courni.
"I wish I could give it Ben," Reed replied, a twinge of anger in his voice. "The complex is in lockdown. We're trying to unlock now, but it's going to take some time. Can you hold out?"
"Yeah," Johnny said. "Easily. Flame on!" Suddenly the room was illuminated again as the Human Torch's body erupted into flames. "Let's see how these guys do barbequed!"
"You so did not just say that," the Thing grumbled. Johnny ignored the comment and poured on the flame, igniting the air around the creatures. The flames licked the carapaces of the creatures, but the trio watched in amazement as the creatures appeared to absorb the flames.
"That's not good," Courni said. Ben shook his head.
"Nope it's not," he said, cracking his knuckles. "I guess that means-"
"Here it comes," Johnny muttered.
"It's clobberin' time!"
Ben swung his meaty fist at the first of the creatures, connecting with a satisfying "crack!" He grinned and swung again, sweeping aside the creatures. Johnny started to follow Ben's lead, blasting the creatures with columns of flame with more concussive force than actual flame. The fire began knocking the creatures back, clearing the trio a path out. Courni followed Ben's lead, changing into a large sloth-like creature and scooping up the aliens, throwing them left and right.
Ben slammed his fist down on the carapace of one of the aliens. The creature's shell cracked, spewing energy from the fissures. The Thing's eyes widened as he watched the energy spill out of the alien.
"Uhm," Ben muttered. "That's not good." The alien exploded, throwing the Thing back into the ringed device they'd been investigating. The strange mineral cracked under the sudden weight and force that struck it.
"Ben!" Johnny exclaimed. Courni shifted to her normal Skrull form and leapt to the Thing's side.
"He's fine!" she called. She turned back to the fight and was suddenly shocked by what greeted her.
"Torch," she stammered.
"What?!" Johnny asked.
"Are they getting bigger?" Johnny looked at the aliens carefully. The creatures were growing.
"Reed!" Johnny exclaimed. "We have a problem!"
"We're still a ways away from getting down their Johnny," Reed's voice responded. Johnny blasted one of the aliens, throwing it away from them.
"I'm going to go nova," Johnny said.
"What?!" Reed exclaimed.
"Nova!" Johnny blasted another of the aliens hard. "Ben destroyed one of these things earlier, but I'm doing nothing. They're absorbing my heat. I'm going to go nova to try to overload them!" He turned to Courni. "Get Ben out of here. Get as far away as you can. Go!" The young Skrull looked at him and nodded.
"Good luck," she said.
"I'll carve you a path," he said. "Get Ben and run!" Courni changed form, becoming a large lumbering beast that Johnny didn't recognise, and scooped the Thing into her arms. She looked back at Johnny and ran down the path he created with his intense flame.
"All right you sons of bitches!" Johnny screamed, lifting himself off the ground. "Let's see how hot you like it!" Johnny's flame began to burn hotter and brighter. Johnny had realized the ability to create such an intense flame early on in his time as the Human Torch. He called it his nova flame. The creatures began screeching in pain.
The ones closest to him began to crack, energy pouring from the fissures. The creatures started to scatter at the intensity of the flame. It was working. The cracking creatures exploded, one by one, dispersing their energy into the room. In fear, the creatures fled before Johnny even came close to full intensity, leaving Johnny alone. Realizing his victory, Johnny cooled his flame and extinguished it completely.
"Wow," he muttered. "That... was weird." He keyed his communicator. "Reed, this is Johnny. I, uh... think we're clear."
"Where did they go?" Ben grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "One minute I'm clobbering the bastards, the next, green girl here scares the bejesus out of me when I wake up to her weird alien mug." The Thing looked at Courni, and raised his brow over his right eye at her. "What was that anyways?"
"Rutalian Brain Beast," she said.
"Wasn't much brain goin' on," he grunted. Reed looked at Ben. The surviving Skrulls and the Fantastic Four had moved their base of operations into the gateway room.
"This is incredible," Reed muttered, looking at the gateway ring. "The alloy seems to be both crystalline and metallic in nature. It's incredibly strong-" He pointed to where Ben had hit the ring when he was thrown back by the exploding alien. "-where Ben hit it here, it's not buckled, but fractured only slightly. It's surprisingly heat resistant, as we can see from the scorch here." He ran his hand over the little bit of soot left by Johnny's flame. "The integrity of the ring was not damaged. It's incredible. I wish I had more time to study it."
"So in other words," Ben said, "you don't have a blasted clue what it is."
"Yep," Johnny declared.
"Boys," Sue hushed. "So what do we need to do?" She walked up behind her husband and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"We need to destroy it," Reed muttered. "But how?"
Retall drew himself to his full height and strode to the side of the ring. "As commander of the Skrull expeditionary force, I will have to ask that we take over from here."
"The hell you will!" the Thing roared. Sue put her hand up and approached the alien, dark fury in her eyes.
"You're forgetting who you're working with Commander," Sue said. "My husband has outsmarted the smartest of your world. We've defeated your race on numerous occasions on our own. I would suggest that you let my husband continue working on our problem, before you screw this up. Got it?"
"Wow," Johnny muttered to Ben. "If I don't know better I'd say she has a serious set of balls." Ben glared at Johnny and he shrugged. "What?"
Sue turned back to her husband. "What's the plan Reed?"
"I need to find out what can destroy this mineral," he said. "After that..." He looked up at his teammates and the Skrulls. "We blow this place to kingdom come."
Retall rubbed his eyes, a gesture he had picked up after years among the humans. As a Skrull, one could spend years on one mission, and as such, learned to adapt to not only cultures but also small ticks in personality. He then reaches out to his console. He'd retreated to their ship, hoping to make contact with Skrull command. If the Four were not going to give up the gateway willingly, then he would force it out of their hands.
"Retall!" growled the voice of his commander, Shifor. "What news do you bring?"
"The gateway is here," Retall replied. "But then also, so are the Fantastic Four. We need more than my team."
"And what is it you suggest?" Shifor asked.
"The Power-Skrull, sir."
"Very well."
Reed smiled from ear to ear. Vibrations. It had taken him hours of different tests on the chips of alloy that had come off when Ben had hit the ring. It was just luck really that he had attempted to use simple vibrations, but Reed would never admit that. It was a little more complicated than a tuning fork though. The mineral would require a specific frequency to enable the breakdown of its molecular structure. After that though... it was kid stuff.
"What's the verdict Stretcho?" the Thing asked as Reed approached his family.
"I've got it," he replied. "Just need to build the necessary equipment from what I brought in Fantasticar and we're set."
"Sounds good," Sue said.
Johnny Storm paced nervously at the edge of the room, nearest where they had encountered the aliens. His mind was racing through so much. The encounter earlier scared Johnny worse than anything had in a long time. Anything except his realization from a couple nights previous. His thoughts wandered back to that. The thought of being alone still scared him. Why was it his thoughts were turning to that now? Why was he thinking about that now?
"Penny for your thoughts?" asked a voice from behind him. Johnny turned to see Courni, the young Skrull assuming the human form she had worn for months now.
"It's always funny hearing Skrulls use human slang," Johnny said with a grin. "What prompted you wearing that skin?"
"I've always been fascinated with Terrans," she replied. "I loved learning about your race. You were so... incredible."
Johnny grinned. "You were going to say fantastic," he teased.
"No I wasn't," she replied, faking an offended look.
"Yes, you were," he joked. "But then, you're face to face with the greatest of all humans. Yep. You're working with the best." Courni punched him lightly in the arm.
"The stories I've heard about you are true then," she laughed. "Way to change the subject though. I was asking about you." She leaned a little bit closer to him. "What's going through that head right now?" As he processed the question in his mind, he suddenly realized how beautiful Courni's eyes were in this form. He shook his head, slightly, realizing she'd asked a question again.
"Uh, well," Johnny stammered, leaning back and looking away. "Just the life, universe, and everything."
"Forty-two," she laughed. Johnny looked back at her, his face twisted in confusion. "Oh, come on, forty-two?" Courni shrugged. "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Haven't you read the book?" Johnny shook his head. "Seen the movie?" Johnny shook his head again. "Good grief Torch!" Courni laughed and shook her head. "How long have you lived on this rock?"
"What?" he shrugged. "What's so wrong with that?" Courni suddenly perked up.
"What was that?" she asked, looking into the darkness. Johnny followed her gaze.
"What was wha- oh crap." He heard the skittering now. He recognized it from hours before. His stomach dropped to his knees.
"Reed!" he exclaimed, looking back at Mr. Fantastic. Reed was working on the vibration generator that would enable them to destroy the gateway, screwing a plate into place. "Reed!" This time he looked up, and Johnny's cry caught Ben and Sue's attention also. "They're back!"
"How close are they?" Reed asked, stretching over to when Johnny stood.
"Close," he replied.
"Give me another couple of minutes," Reed said, resuming his natural form. "I'm almost done with this."
"Gotcha!" Johnny exclaimed, jumping onto the scaffolding the aliens approached them from. "Flame on!" As flames ignited all over his body, Ben started to join him, then noticed something on the opposite side of the walkway.
"Oh crap," Ben muttered. "Matchstick down!" Johnny turned towards Ben's cry and was slammed square in the chest by a blast of extreme cold.
"This expedition is over!" declared the disfigured Skrull opposite where the alien beings approached them. "So says Paibok, the Power-Skrull!"
In Fantastic Four #3: The Fantastic Four find themselves between the alien invaders and one of the most frightening foes they've faced!
