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| Issue #4 August 2006 |
"Five Card Stud" Written By Tony Thornley |
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"I'm not coming this time!" Johnny Storm called from inside the bathroom. "I told you that yesterday!" Johnny worked his hair meticulously with his fingers in front of his mirror. Not satisfied with the result, he began again.
"When did you tell me?" Ben asked. He rubbed his chin, running his conversations with Johnny the previous day through his mind.
"I don't know," he replied. "Lunch time maybe. While you were digging into that grilled pastrami."
"Oh," Ben muttered, "okay. But why not?" Johnny grinned inside.
"I've got a date," he replied. "With Courni." Ben's shoulders slumped.
"Oh, well good," he said. He started to turn, then stopped and looked back at the bathroom. "Hey Matchstick?"
"Yeah?"
"She seems like a nice girl, but be careful, all right?" There was a pause before Johnny responded.
"Will do Ben. Will do."
Reed Richards looked up at Brian Braddock. The former Captain Britain* had helped fund some of Reed's research recently and had just barely found the opportunity to visit and look into the project's progress.
* (Or not so former, if you check out the events of Excalibur- Tony)
"The data you emailed me last week was truly fascinating Brian," Reed said. "Your perspective on alternate quantum realities is unique, and being able to work with you on this research has furthered my own research months ahead of where I'd be without it."
"Thank you Reed," Brian replied. "My interest of course falls more towards the scientific reasons about why these universes come to be. I've had such conversations with Roma, but I never fully understood her explanations." Reed nodded and fidgeted with several instruments.
"I've set up a device that would enable us to view one of the miniaturized realities that I described to you some time ago," he said. "I could set everything up so you could take a look."
"That would be very interesting," Brian replied. "I would enjoy that."
"Indeed." Reed stretched his torso to find the device in his cluttered laboratory. "It's going to take several hours to calibrate the device for a clear view. You could wait if you'd like, or Ben's holding one of his poker games. I'm sure they'd welcome another player." Brian laughed.
"That sounds like a plan."
Ben watched as Clint Barton shuffled the deck for their first hand. It was a good group of attendees this time around. Logan sat to Ben's right, already on his third beer for the night, and almost to the end of his first cigar. Hank McCoy sat between his former teammate and Hawkeye, nibbling on a Buffalo wing, trying not to get the sauce on his fur. To Clint's left sat Speedball. Robbie Baldwin was excited to get an invitation to the event, but Ben had felt bad for the kid when he came to Reed looking for a job as a research assistant. It was the least he could have done. Rounding out the table at the moment was Brian Braddock, the former Captain Britain, who was anxious to play.
Clint finished shuffling and held the deck out to Logan to cut. The diminutive mutant took the deck directly at the middle and placed it on the table. Clint placed the other half of the deck on top and picked up the cards, ready to deal.
"So what's the game?" he asked. Ben picked up a cigar, bit off the tip and held it out to Logan.
"Light?" he asked. Logan flipped out a lighter, sparked it, then held the flame to the end of the Thing's cigar. "I say five card stud, no wilds," he said, taking a long drag on the cigar.
"Sounds good to me," Brian replied. The others agreed and Clint began dealing.
"Spidey might be on his way," Ben declared, picking up his third card. "I talked to him just a couple nights ago."
"He's never any fun when he comes," Logan growled. "Just whines about his hand for the most part."
"And you never do?" Hank teased. Logan merely glared at him.
"It's kind of an odd time to be having this," Clint stated. "I mean, in a matter of months we've lost Hank Pym, Scott Lang and Jim Rhodes. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have gotten together..." He picked up his cards and began arranging them. "It's just kind of a somber time for all of us."
"How's Wasp holding up?" Speedball asked. Beast shrugged.
"She's okay," he said. "Could be worse."
"I know how that is," Ben declared, setting down two cards. "Give me three. With the number of times a member of the Fantastic Four have been assumed dead, myself included... Suzy had it worst when Reed disappeared for so long. Didn't help that Namor went after her shortly afterwards." He rearranged his cards again. "Lousy fish-king." Logan placed two cards on the table, and held out his hand for two more. Clint obliged.
"How are the X-Men?" Robbie asked. "I heard it was a rough year." Logan and Hank glanced at each other, then at Brian. It seemed like it wasn't that long ago that they'd lost his sister, Betsy.
"It was," Hank simply stated. "I regret leaving the team for the Avengers right now." He looked at Hawkeye. "Of course, they need us just as much." Clint nodded.
"How is retirement treating you Brian?" Clint asked. "I know you and I never associated much, but I was sorry to hear about Excalibur disbanding."
"Oh... uhm," Brian stammered while setting two cards down. Clint dealt him an additional two. "Losing Betsy was tough on us, even thought about coming out of retirement for a little while just for revenge. Meggan and I have enjoyed it so far, have even talked about trying to start a family. Things have just been... busy." Logan looked up at Brian, sniffed, and then looked back to his cards.
"So, let's quit belly achin' about how rough things have been," Ben declared. "We came to play cards to get our minds off how bad it's been. I miss Hank and Scott too. They always loved coming to these games." Ben coughed to cover up the crack in his voice and took a deep sigh. "So who's startin' the betting?"
Johnny and Courni walked down a quiet New York street, only a couple blocks from the Baxter Building. He had a favorite Indian restaurant nearby, and following that, he looked forward to teaching Courni how to ice skate. He was thrilled at the blank slate that she had. The young Skrull loved Earth culture, but it was all still so new to her.
"Johnny look!" Courni cried. She pointed into the sky as Nova rocketed by. Johnny laughed. Superheroes were another thing that excited her. "Isn't that incredible? The closest thing we had to heroes like you was... the Super-Skrull I guess. Even he wasn't that super though."
"You're excited by Nova?" Johnny teased. "When you've got the Human Torch right here?"
"Oh, Johnny, I didn't mean-"
"No, I'm kidding." He took her hand. "You'll have to get used to that." Courni smiled and leaned her head on Johnny's shoulder.
"Know what else I need to get used to?" she asked.
"What's that?"
"Starting to fall for a human."
Reed played with a small model in his hands. The viewer was set up for Brian, and now Reed just needed some down time. The model was a replica of the Infinity. It had been almost three weeks since the ship had disappeared in a flash of energy. Reed had spent several hours several days afterwards with Genis Vell and Norrin Radd, the two cosmic heroes who had escorted the ship to the point it engaged its faster than light engines.
"Neither of you could sense anything of the ship?" Reed asked, leaning against a console in his lab, his arms folded. Captain Marvel sat in one of the desk chairs Reed had, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees. The Silver Surfer stood in the middle of room, as regal as ever.
"And not in the normal sense," Genis said. "If the ship had exploded when they went FTL..." Genis let the thought trail off.
"Then the Power Cosmic would have been able to follow the energy trail and find the debris," the Surfer interjected. "And Captain Marvel's cosmic awareness would be able to sense them."
"In other words..." Reed's thought also trailed off. "They've been ejected off this plane of existence. My engine design could have trapped them in the wormhole. They could be perpetually stuck in hyperspace with no way out."
"Possible," the Surfer replied. "But another distinct possibility is that... well..."
"Something's blocking us Reed," Genis said. "The Surfer and I never brought it up with NASA or any of the other space programs. They could very well be alive but there's something that doesn't want us to know if they are or not. Reed... it's not your fault."
"No my friend," the Surfer offered. "It is not."
"Yes it is," Reed muttered, turning the model over, the Surfer's words from weeks ago ringing in his ears. "It was my fault. I should have shut it down. We weren't ready for large scale space travel." Reed's face contorted with anger. "We weren't ready for it!"
He threw the model across the room with a scream. "We weren't READY!" The small-scale ship hit the wall and shattered. "I should have stopped it." Reed leaned forward and began sobbing.
"Full house!" Ben exclaimed. "Ah ha!" He slapped his cards down, revealing three jacks and two threes, then reaching out to collect the pot. Logan and Clint both groaned. Robbie chuckled. Ben stopped and looked up at Speedball.
"What? What's so funny?" Robbie smiled and flipped his cards onto the table. Four sixes.
"I win," he said. Ben's eyes narrowed, and the rest of table began laughing. Logan slapped the Thing's shoulder.
"Th' look on yer face Benjy!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, withdrawing his hands and folding his arms across his chest. A knock came from the door of the suite. Ben turned and stood.
"Hunh," he grumbled. "Wonder who that is." He walked to the door and opened it. A bellboy stood at the door, a room service cart in front of him.
"I have your order," he declared. Ben frowned.
"Hunh, I didn't order anything," he grumbled. He turned to the others. "You guys order-" Suddenly Wolverine jumped to his feet, unsheathing his claws with a *SNKIT*, followed by the others. Ben turned to see the young man had donned a gas mask and was holding a pistol of some sort. Ben started to react, but the bellboy moved quicker than he, spraying a noxious gas in his face from his glove. Black spots instantly began to appear in his vision and he blacked out as the bellboy sprayed a thick cloud of the same gas into the room.
Johnny laughed as he supported Courni on the ice. She tried to regain her balance carefully, getting her feet underneath her. Johnny lifted her, letting her windmill her arms under she felt stable.
"See," he said. "It's not that bad."
"Bad is a relative term right now Johnny Storm." She reached out and took his hand. "But the company's the best part." Johnny smiled. He leaned towards her, planning to kiss her. A plume of purple smoke erupted in front of Johnny and Courni suddenly. The surprise knocked Johnny backwards. As the cloud dissipated, he regarded one of the Four's oldest and most dangerous foes. The Spanish man in purple and green laughed as Johnny stood.
"Diablo!" he hissed. "This is new."
"Of course Jonathan," he said. "All along this evening?" He looked around. "No Thing or Invisible Woman? No matter..." He drew his cloak around him. "A proposition. I have placed a device in a New York landmark. I require a device of your brother-in-law's. You deliver the device to me by 1 AM this evening or I will use my invention to turn the landmark into gold, and everyone there with it." The immortal alchemist threw Johnny a diskette.
"Why do you expect me to help you?" Johnny asked, catching the disk.
"Because you won't be able to stand the guilt of those innocent lives lost," Diablo declared. He turned slightly and smiled at Courni. "The disk contains information on what I need and where to meet me. It's half past nine o'clock Jonathan. I would encourage you to hurry."
Throwing his cloak out from his body, the villain disappeared in another cloud of smoke just as he appeared moments before. Courni turned to him, surprise on her face.
"Johnny, what are you going to do?"
"We're going back to the Baxter Building," he said. "But I'm going to get Reed to help me locate Diablo's gizmo." He looked at Courni, flames dancing in his eyes. "No one blackmails the Fantastic Four."
Susan Richards opened the door to her husband's lab. He hadn't been answering her repeated attempts to find him. She stepped over a small broken device. Looking down at it, she realized it wasn't one of Reed's inventions, but rather his model of the Infinity. She suddenly realized why he wasn't answering.
"Reed, where are you?" she asked. She walked deeper into the lab, seeing her husband slumped in a chair, holding his head in his hands.
"Reed... are you okay?"
Reed looked up and gave her a weak smile. "Yeah, I guess." Sue frowned and walked over to him. She bent over and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"It really wasn't your fault you know?" she said. "It was out of your control."
"Sue, don't say-"
"Reed," she interrupted. "Stop. I love you, and I know you've been blaming yourself ever since it happened." She leaned further over and kissed him softly on the lips. "It's not your fault." Reed smiled.
"You're wrong sweetheart."
"No, Reed," Sue replied firmly. "I'm not. And I'm not just saying that. It wasn't you. I love you, Reed Richards."
"I love you too."
In Fantastic Four #5: The Thing and company face their kidnapper, Johnny and Courni race against time to stop Diablo and Reed makes a startling discovery! All this and something is wrong with Sue Richards, but what?
