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| Issue #3 May 2006 |
"Frozen" Written By Tony Thornley |
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To the other side, but still out of sight approached a group of still unidentified alien invaders. Her husband, Reed Richards was working furiously behind her, creating a device that would destroy the aliens' gateway into their world.
"Here goes Susan," she muttered to herself. She watched as Ben Grimm, the Thing, rushed Paibok, his fists held above his head. She felt the light bend around her body, then pass straight through is, rendering her invisible. It was an incredible feeling, and Sue knew that the physics of it all were impossible.
Reed had told her a thousand times that she should be blind whenever she went invisible. That the light passing through her body would have made it impossible to see anything. She always countered with the fact that Ben should have been too heavy to move, Johnny should have withered away years ago and Reed's heart should have collapsed from the strain of pumping blood to his extended body.
As Ben first struck the Power-Skrull, Sue extended a force field around her husband and the gateway ring they were attempting to destroy. The Skrull returned the blow as Sue followed Ben onto the scaffolding, finding herself between Johnny and Ben. She resumed her visibility and everything seemed to snap back to normal. The feeling was always exhilarating.
"BEN DOWN!" As the Thing punched Power-Skrull again, he heard Sue's cry and instantly hit the ground. Years of experience together had taught Ben Grimm many things. One of those was, when Sue Richards told you to do something, you don't hesitate. Do it.
An invisible force field clobbered the group of Skrulls, including their powerful point man. The aliens flew backwards. Sue shoved again, scattering the shape shifters and destroying their weapons.
"I thought Paibok was regarded as a failure by the Skrull Empire!" Sue cried, turning her attention towards her brother. Ben stood up and braced himself for an attack from the Skrulls again.
"I guess they made happy," Ben grunted. "Kinda wish they hadn't." Paibok was the first to stand. The Power Skrull was ugly even for Skrull standards. After years of failure he'd had his body augmented to give him his powers. The augmentation process had disfigured him though, shaping his skin and muscles directly around his bones. The best way Ben could describe him was a walking green skeleton with a Skrull head. Paibok rushed Ben, who promptly punched him in the face.
"You dumb 'r just plain stupid?" Ben asked, picking his opponent up. "Yeh ain't a Super Skrull." He threw Paibok into the nearest icy wall. "Yer only a step above yer buddies!"
"Reed, how much more time?" Sue called, reaching Johnny. The young Skrull Courni was already kneeling over him, checking his vitals.
"I just need to adjust the harmonic frequency sequencer and we're set!" her husband called.
"I asked how long!" Sue exclaimed.
"Two minutes!"
"You've got it," Sue replied. She looked at Johnny. "Is he okay Courni?" She nodded. "Good. You may want to get him out of the way." Sue looked up into the darkness. As Courni dragged Johnny away from the walkway, the insectoid aliens appeared on the walkway, stalking towards Sue. She grinned. This would be the second time in as many minutes that she pulled this trick.
"Hello there," she muttered. She punched her right fist out, an invisible battering ram plowing through the aliens. After pushing them back, Sue created a wall of energy, holding off the aliens.
"Almost there sweetheart?" Sue cried, looking towards her husband. Reed slammed the device he was working on onto the gate, twisted a knob, and then gave Sue a thumbs up. Sue nodded, turned back to the aliens, and then pushed them further back. She noticed as one of them rushed the field, and extended a stinger similar to a scorpion's tail. Before she realized what happened, her mind exploded in pain and she collapsed.
She heard echoes of her family's voices all around her as she came to. Johnny was awake and fending off the invaders. Ben was still locked in combat with the Power Skrull. Reed was at once at her side and triggering the device that would destroy the gateway ring. Before she blacked out, she was aware of something else entirely. She knew what the aliens were. As she slipped into darkness, a strange word crossed her lips.
"Coutai."
"Ben!" Reed roared as he lifted Sue. "Sue's
down. Take the fight outside!" The Thing grinned and popped
his knuckles.
"My pleasure."
The Power Skrull stood from where Ben had knocked him down and
rushed him again. "Yer really not that bright, are you?"
Ben uppercutted the Skrull, the sheer force of the blow sending
him sailing through the ice to the exterior of the complex. The
other Skrulls began to retreat, fear taking precedence over orders.
Ben smiled and followed.
"Johnny, what's happening?" Reed called,
setting Sue down and igniting the machine he had built minutes ago.
"I'm slowing these bastards down, but I'm
not stopping them!" he declared. "My head is pounding from the
blast I just took, and we would really use Sue right now!" Beside
him, Courni picked up one of the Skrull blasters Sue had torn from
their hands and began to fire into the mass of the black creatures.
"Give me one more minute," Reed declared,
"and we can get out of here!" Mister Fantastic began working as
quickly as possible, bringing the machine up to full power. As
low hum filled the room, growing higher and higher in pitch quickly.
"Johnny!" Reed cried over the growing
squeal. "Go nova! NOW!" Reed scooped up Sue and began
running. Courni, realized the intensity of the heat the Human
Torch was about to produce, followed behind them, glancing back over
her shoulder to see the flames surrounding Johnny change color from
orange, to blue, to white, and spread from his body to begin to envelop
the aliens.
"Let's see how you can handle it when I
don't stop!" Johnny cried. The room was enveloped in white flame.
Paibok wiped green blood from his lip and sneered
at the Thing. Ben smiled. The other Skrulls had circled
around them, afraid to do anything. Paibok came at him again.
The alien was not getting the hint.
"I have defeated you before Earth-Thing!" he cried.
"You will not stop me now!" He summoned an electrical
charge right before he hit Ben hard with his left fist. The shock
surprised Ben and caused him to stumble back. He quickly
recovered his footing.
"Yeh might have," he said. "But it's
been a long time." Ben punched the ground, buckling the ice and
throwing all the Skrulls off balance. He walked over to Paibok
and placed his foot lightly on his chest. "And seeing how it's
already pretty blasted cold here, it takes away half of your advantage
anyways." Ben leaned towards him. "By the way, I win."
"Ben!" Reed ran towards them, Sue
wrapped up in his arms. Courni followed closely behind. "Get away from
the base! Johnny's going nova!"
"Oh," he grunted, "wotta revoltin'
development." He turned to the Skrulls. "Alla you run!" he
roared, breaking into a sprint himself. The small group got to
their feet as quickly as possible and rushed away from the collapsing
ice. The ground exploded in a cloud of steam. Ben looked up
from where he landed and looked at the large crater.
"That went off well."
Johnny Storm came to in the bottom of a crater.
The sides had melted into a continuous sheet of ice. Johnny
stood and looked up.
"Heh, it worked," he muttered. "Flame on!" Johnny
flew into the air, and quickly found the Fantastic Four and the Skrulls
picking themselves up. Johnny landed among them, offering his
hand to Courni as she stood.
"Are you all okay?" he asked. Ben
pushed himself up, while Reed helped Sue to her feet as she regained
consciousness.
"I think we're fine," Reed replied. "Sue?"
"I-I'm okay," she muttered. "My head
is still spinning." Reed nodded and drew her close to him.
"Guys, can you...?" He nodded towards the Skrulls.
"Already on it Stretcho," Ben grumbled and
he stomped over to the Skrulls. He grabbed the Power Skrull and
lifted him off the ground. The enhanced alien was obviously still
dazed.
"You awake enough t' listen t' me?" Thing
growled, shaking Paibok. The alien nodded, blinking his eyes.
"Good. Now, you're takin' your buddies here, getting in
that ship over there-" Ben pointed to the Skrull ship.
"-and alla youse are going to get off my planet. Got it?"
Paibok nodded. "Good! Now all of you Skrulls, GET!"
"Not all of them are leaving," Johnny said.
Ben looked back at him as the Skrulls began to get up and run
towards the ship, fearing what the Thing might do to them.
"I want to stay," Courni said, standing
right next to Johnny. She reached down and took his hand in hers
as she shifted into her human appearance. "I've always wanted to
live on Earth, and now I have the opportunity to do that without an
ulterior motive." Johnny squeezed her hand. Ben chuckled.
"I think that's acceptable," Reed said.
"Yeah, Matchstick," Ben grumbled. "Now let's get home!"
Sue laid in her bed, listening to what was going on
outside her bedroom. Johnny and Courni were sitting in the
kitchen talking. Sue was uneasy about letting a Skrull live in
the Baxter Building, but she trusted her brother's judgment. That
didn't mean that she wouldn't keep a close eye on Courni though.
Ben was playing in the living room with
Franklin and Valeria. It always amazed Sue at how people could be
scared of Ben. His heart had always been pure, and he loved his
adopted family fiercely. The laugh of Alicia Masters filled her
ears also. She had been there for Ben for so long.
Even though she couldn't hear him, she knew
Reed was hard at work in his lab. After ordering Sue to rest
after the shock her system took, he immediately retreated to his lab.
The energy shock she'd received from the aliens opened almost a
psychic link to them. She knew now that the aliens were called
the Coutai. The brainless insectoids the FF had faced were merely
the first wave of invaders. Had the Four not destroyed the
gateway ring, more would have come. Reed was now analyzing the
alloy that the gate was made of.
As she thought about her husband, Sue
drifted to sleep, letting her body relax and the stress of their recent
adventure flow out of her.
"Hello Susan."
Sue looked around for the source of the
voice she heard. She seemed to be standing in the middle of a
desert- why were strange dreams always in deserts?- in the middle of a
beautiful starry night. There was nothing else in view for miles.
"Who was that?" she asked, still looking around.
"It was me," the voice said again. A dark female figure approached her.
Sue couldn't see any more detail of the figure.
"And who is me?" she asked, hoping this was merely a dream.
"Oh, it's not just a dream Susan, I am very
real." The female stepped closer. "And I am no longer just
a part of you."
In shock she sat straight up in bed.
She took several deep breaths in and shook her head. Even
though her mind was filled with terror, she couldn't remember what it
was that scared her so badly. She slid out of bed, grabbed a
t-shirt and slipped it on over her tank top. As she joined her
family in their apartment, it still bothered her.
What was it?
In Fantastic Four #4: It's that time of year that the superhero community looks forward to so much- the semi-annual Benjamin Grimm poker game! Who's invited this year? Tune in to find out!
