FANTASTIC FOUR # 424

by Mark Bousquet

FRANKLIN MUST DIE

BOOK II: THE MIDDLE

THE NEGATIVE ZONE - JUST OUTSIDE THE DISTORTION AREA

"Die, Fantastic Four, die!!!" shouts the recently revived Stygorr the Nightlord, as energy ripples over his magenta-skin and out his hands towards the Fantastic Four.

"Aw, shaddup, ya pink skinned freak!" Ben shouts as he swerves the Fantasti-Car out of the way. Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), Sue Richards (Invisible Woman) and Jennifer Walters (the She-Hulk) grib the edges of their seats as the Fantasti-Car banks hard to the left.

"Ben, steer us behind that collection of asteroids!" Reed shouts, his arms extending to frab the field-effect harnesses stored in the Car's back seat, ignoring the buzzing Container NZRP. "Sue-!"

"I'm on it!" Sue shouts as she uses her invisibilty powers to create a rod that she sends across the void, slamming into Stygorr's side.

"Ooomph!" Stygorr gasps as the blow knocks him off stride.

"Quickly," Reed exclaims, "everyone put on a field-effect harness! Stygorr's power is that he can change his body from negative to positive matter and back. Whether he can do so with his blasts is unclear, but it is better that we play it like he can. The field effect harness will protect you either way!"

"I thought Stygorr blew up last time we faced him?" Ben asks as he pulls the Fantasti-Car to a stop behind a large collection of asteroids.

"So did I, Ben, but death is no certainty in our world! Since his power-!"

"Stow it, Stretch, IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!" Ben shouts as he grabs a field-effect harness and straps it on.

"How can we move in here, Reed?" She-Hulk asks, having to adjust the straps of the harness.

"The harness has a small propulsion unit built onto the back. Press the button of the left strap - yes, that's it there - and the unit will be activated! Now, quickly, we must-!"

"DIE!!!" Stygorr shouts sending a blast into the asteroid, destorying a large chunk of the rock.

Sue moves to hit Stygorr with another invisible blast, but before she can the Nightlord sends several blasts her way and she's forced into defensive maneuvers. She gets the shield up, but rhe force of the blast is too strong and she is sent hurtling backwards.

"Sue!" Reed yells, stretching his arms to envelop her body.

"Your protectiveness will be your death!" Stygorr shouts as a force-blast knocks Reed unconscious, sending him hurtling after her.

THE NEGATIVE ZONE - THE SHIP OF THANOS, SANCTUARY III

Thanos sits on his throne and watches a picture globe hanging before him in mid-air. Upon it, the scene it displays is the planet Baluur, under assault from Annihilus and Blastaar, the latter the desposed monarch of Baluur. They attack the planet because Thanos told them to, though they would have undoubtedly gotten around to it themselves - either seperately or together.

His gloved fingers sit folded in front of him as Thanos ponders. He has done much pondering of late over the stories he has heard of the young Earth boy Franklin Richards. A boy who's power drew the attention of the Celestials themselves.

"Something troubles you, Thanos?" an unseen person asks.

"Nothing troubles Thanos," he responds, light flickering off his face, as shadows dance across his purple features. "Nothing save the incessant questions of an ally I do not trust."

"You don't trust me, Thanos?" the visitor asks, flames dancing around the room. "I thought my loyalty was proven when I attacked the Collector, to gain the device you needed to bring Stygorr's energies back into re-alignment."

Thanos' demeanor is unchanged. "The planets of the cosmos have a saying. I wonder if you have heard it? It goes, 'Never trust a Herald bearing gifts. Because the gift they bring may be nothing more than a homing signal for their Master, the Planet Destroyer.' So no, I do not trust you."

"Are you afraid of my former Master, then, Thanos? Do you fear Galactus?" Flames dance close to Thanos, their hot tendrils lapping at the Titans' skin.

"Thanos fears no one, Firelord. No one."

'We'll see,' Firelord thinks to himself.

EARTH - PIER 4

Johnny Storm is, to put it mildly, upset. He is a hero, not a baby-sitter and though he loves Franklin very much and doesn't mind watching him when Reed and Sue spend an infrequent night on the town, he minds it quite a bit when he's watching them so Reed and Sue can go play hero.

"What'cha doing Unca Johnny?" Franklin asks as he bounds into the room with his seemingly limitless energy.

"Deciding what we should eat for supper. You want pizza or pizza?" Johnny asks, his lack of enthusiasm obvious.

Franklin laughs, "You're funny, Unca Johnny. I'll have pep'roni pizza."

"Good. Go wash up - I'll make the call." As Franklin runs out of the room, Johnny slumps into a chair. His recent team-up with Spider-Man provided a nice distraction,* but it doesn't change the fact that Johnny Storm is a very troubled young man.

*(FF # 422 - N'Kantu the Living Mummy)

The weight of failed relationships has weighed heavily on him since returning from the Franklinverse. 'Why, in a world where we were given a second chance to live our lives again, did I find myself once again madly in love with Crystal? Crystal. Not Frankie Raye or Lyja or any of the numerous other loves I've had. Crystal. If I could fall in love with her on another world, a place where things were given a chance to be put right, then maybe it means me and Crys were fated to be together. Does that mean I'm fated to spend the rest of my life going from one love to another,' Johnny wonders, 'because my one true love will forever be denied me?' Johnny sighs, his hand reaching for the phone, 'I wish I knew where you were Lyja. I'd rather see you come to our door than a greasy faced kid delivering pizza.'

NEGATIVE ZONE - OUTSIDE DISTORTION AREA

"DIE!!!" Stygorr the Nightlord sends more bolts of energy towards the unconscious body of Reed and the groggy body of Sue. Because of his ability to use force blasts, Stygorr floats a good distance from where the Fantastic Four had hidden behind the asteroid. He is far enough away that Thing and She-Hulk have not yet been able to close the distance between them.

"You go wide-right, Jen, I'll go wide-left," Thing whispers as he and She-Hulk fan out.

"Uhhh!" Sue moans as Stygorr's blasts slam into her weakened force-field, knocking her and Reed further away. "Reed ... wake-up ..."

"You are nothing but a nuisance to me!" Stygorr screams as he hurtles force bolts at Jen, who had closed within ten feet. Jen screams as the force bolts knock her off-course.

"Screw this!" Ben decides, using the propulsion unit on the field harness to move towards a pile of floating debris. He turns his body around and makes a couple of quick thrusts to counter his momentum and come to a floating stop. He grabs several of the smaller rocks and hurls them at Stygorr.

"Though you are with the Fantastic Four, you are a green beauty!" Stygorr shouts at the floating out of control body of the She-Hulk. "My master did not mention you would be with the Fantastic Four, so I shall choose to spare you and make you- aaargh!" His rant is stopped as rocks slam into him.

"Give it a rest, ugly!" Ben Grimm shouts, sneding more rocks careening Stygorr's way. "There's plenty of freaks out there who'd probably be excited about a guy who rules a section of sub-space smaller than a deck of cards! No need to steal one of the pretty ones!"

Stygorr has regained his balance and blasts the next wave of rocks before they can come into contact with him. "You on the other hand, I have no desire to spare!!!"

Force bolts reign in on Benjamin Grimm, knocking him backwards, spiraling out of control. "Wotta revoltin' development," Ben grumbles to himself.

PIER 4 - COMMON ROOM

Johnny and Franklin sit in a common room, relaxing in overstuffed chairs, stuffed full of pizza. On a large, widescreen television, the final scene of "Agax the Amazing" plays out. Agax has just finished defeating an evil Warlord, liberating a group of trapped villagers.

"Let us see who these villagers are!" Agax bellows to his short, stocky dwarf side-kick, "I wonder why the Byrnecus keeps them locked in his bedroom!"

"God, you're an idiot," Johnny mutters to the screen.

Agax kicks open the large brass doors and is greeted by a throng of half-naked, gorgeous women. "Well, ain't this a nice surprise!" Agax bellows as the women surround him, grasping at him, pawing over him. "It's good to be Agax!" he shouts as the scene fades to black.

"Man alive, Simon Williams could not act his way out of ... out of ..." Johnny pauses, realizing if he says 'a wet paper bag' he'll be as cliché ridden as the movie he's making fun of, "an empty pizza box," he finishes lamely.

What passes for a doorbell in Pier 4 rings. "Ugh, who could that be at this time of night?" Franklin yawns. "You'd better come with me, buddy, in case it's a super bad-guy looking to start trouble."

"I'm tired ... besides, HERBIE can watch me," Franklin yawns.

"Oh, okay," Johnny answers as he starts to walk out the door, before it hits him. "What?" he turns back and, sure enough, HERBIE is floating next to Franklin. "Huh?" He starts to ask Franklin where the robot came from, but Franklin is already asleep. "Reed musta put him back together," he decides as he walks to check who's at the door. "Be nice if he told us these things once in a while, though ..."

NEGATIVE ZONE - OUTSIDE DISTORTION AREA

Reed has awakened, and he and Sue begin to make their way back towards Stygorr, who is firing at the Thing.

"DIE!!!" he screams, madness awash in his eyes.

"Do you think the Avengers villains always want to kill them?" Sue asks.

"Probably, darling," Reed smiles, happy to see his beautiful wife smile, if only for a moment. He knows that his father has many questions to answer, and Sue won't wait forever for those answers to come. "I'm more curious as to how Stygorr was able to realign his molecules. I had thought he had destroyed himself when that other body came into contact with him, whoever that body was. But if he was in-between his positive and negative states, it's possible his energy was simply forced apart and not destroyed."

"Think he had help?" Sue asks, sending an invisilbe hand out to grasp the Thing to keep him from spinning further away from the battle site.

"He had to, Sue. The odds of that energy coming back together on it's own is almost incalculable." Reed says as he stretches his right hand out wide to collect a large grouping of rock.

"So who?" Sue asks, smiling as Ben looks confused for only a second about what stopped him before he sees Sue and smiles.

"The usual suspect would be Dr. Doom, of course, but the Negative Zone isn't his usual operating procedure." Reed closes his fist around the rocks and starts to bring his arm back.

"So who? Annihilus? Blastaar? I doubt they'd help someone they'd see as a threat to their chances of ruling the Negative Zone." Sue nods to Ben.

"I don't know, Sue. Stygorr may be completely unrelated to the assault on Baluur, but somehow," he looks to her and smiles, "I doubt it. I'll attack the front, darling. Would you mind providing a wall?" Reed snaps his arm forward sending rocks hurtling at Stygorr.

"Certainly, Reed." Behind the Nightlord, Sue erects an invisible wall.

"Bah! More rocks? Is that the best the vaunted Fantastic Four can do?" Stygorr screams, firing his force-bolts

"What's wrong with rocks, ya crazy nutbag?" The Thing asks as he hurls even more rocks towards Stygorr.

"I wish I had something cool to say," She-Hulk mumbles, "I'm too used to someone yelling 'Avengers Assemble!' and just hitting someone. Or throwing rocks, as the case may be." She-Hulk hurls a large boulder hurtling towards Stygorr.

For his part, Stygorr is still trying to destroy the rock fragments Reed threw, when he sees the Thing's rocks coming from his right. He fires a few blasts that way, when he turns to see She-Hulk's boulder hurtling at him. "Rocks cannot hurt the Nightlord!" Stygorr screams as an energy build-up begins to roll across his skin.

As his arms stretch out in front of him, Sue brings the invisible wall forward to slam into his his back, knocking him forward and off-stride. The rocks converge simultaneously and slam into him, creating a massive explosion.

"That takes care of that!" Ben yells.

As the rock dust clears, magenta bolts of energy blast outward from where Stygorr stood. As the dust disapates, Stygorr floats unharmed. For the first time, he speaks in a confident, non-screaming voice, "I hope you can do better than that, Fantastic Four, or you really will die this day."

PIER 4 - VISITOR'S WAITING ROOM

Johnny takes the elevator down the three floors to the visitor's waiting area. One of Reed's automatons would have performed the security check as the visitor ended. Since no alarms went off, the visitor is either a friend, not a super-villain of record or without super-powers altogether.

As the elevator opens, Johnny gives a quick gasp, which turns to confusion. That's certainly not anyone he expected to see. Not that he minds, of course.

"Well, hello, Mr. Storm," purrs the Black Cat suggestively as she stretches her alluring frame across the couch she's reclining on.

"Hello, Black Cat. To what do I owe the honor?" Johnny smiles warmly, turning on the charm. 'Ironic,' he thinks, 'here I am pining over never being able to have my 'one true love', feeling downright miserable, and the moment I see a beautiful woman, my spirits begin to rise.'

"Honor?" Black Cat asks, feigning hurt feelings, "I was hoping you'd say, 'Pleasure'."

Johnny smiles, "To what, then, do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"It's raining outside. Cats hate the rain," she smiles a smile so beautiful that her words barely matter.

"Is that all?" Johnny asks as he sits down on the couch next to her.

"Well, I did run into a mutual friend of ours-"

"Spidey?" Johnny asks. "Weird guy."

"-yes, Spider-Man - and he said you were feeling a little depressed." The Black Cat smiles, "And he thought I might want to come over and cheer you up."

"Just like I said. That Spidey's a great guy." Johnny smiles, inching closer on the couch. 'Yep,' he thinks, 'this is just what I needed.' "Have I told you how much I love cats?" Johnny asks as he leans in for a kiss.

"You can tell me about it some other time," the Black Cat responds as she leans forward to kiss Johnny.

Their lips barely touch, when the Black Cat sharply pulls back. "Never on a first date. I don't need the reputation." The Black Cat stands and walks towards the door, leaving a flummoxed Johnny Storm sitting on the couch.

"Should I call you, beautiful?" Johnny asks, rising and taking a step towards the door.

"I'll be around," the Black Cat answers, but doesn't turn back to look at Johnny. Her pace quickens as she steps back through the security gate and out through the entrance area. By the time she's out of sight, she's almost running. By the time she's outside, she's broken into a full sprint.

She runs until she's sure she's away from prying eyes and stops and begins to sob. As she cries, the Black Cat's body morphs back into it's normal form, that of Lyja, the skrull who was once the wife of Johnny Storm. "Some things never change, do they, Johnny?" she sobs. "And if you do still have feelings for me, how can I trust you if you throw yourself at someone that quickly? I curse my own weakness."

NEGATIVE ZONE - JUST OUTSIDE THE DISTORTION AREA

"Sue, keep him occupied!" Reed shots as he uses the propulsion unit on the field effect harness to move back towards the Fantasti-Car. Stretching ahead would be easier, but it would leave his body exposed to Stygorr's blasts.

When he reaches the Car, he unpacks Container NZRP and a second, smaller container. The metal scraps inside were something he had hoped to save for the attack on Annihilus and Blastaar, but it can't wait. Every second they spend fighting with Stygorr is another second that Baluur comes closer to being taken.

As Reed learned in the past, objects surrounded by a certain type of force-field fail to undergo the usual change that takes place when an object passes into the Negative Zone. That is, anything inside the force-field will stay positive matter while the rest of the Negative Zone is anti-matter. *

*(Reed discovered this in Fantastic Four # 289)

Carefully, though protected by the field-effect harness - in fact, this is the reason Reed made certain to include the harnesses - Reed removes the container and moves back towards Sue.

"Ben, She-Hulk, hit him with more floating debris!" Reed yells, though that's what they'd been doing all along.

Sue, sensing her husband's plan steps up her assault on Stygorr, hitting him with a multi-pronged assault of invisible rods.

"When I'm in position," Reed whispers to Sue, "hit him with everything you've got. You must contain him in that one spot." Sue nods and Reed stretches out and under Stygorr, eventually coming to stand behind him. The members of the Fantastic Four shift slightly so they all stand roughly thirty feet from the Nightlord, who continues to twist and turn and destroy whatever debris the FF sends his way. Sue's attacks help keep him off-balance, allowing for more rocks to get through.

Reed nods in her direction and she yells to the others, "Now! Hit him with the largest rock you can find!"

As Reed shuts off the force field and unlocks the Container, Thing and She-Hulk grab the nearest asteroids and hurl it towards Stygorr. Reed pushes the Container, the scrap metal spilling out in front. Stygorr raises his arms to fire blasts at the boulders, but Sue stops her attack and uses her powers to pin Stygorr's arms to his side.

"What?!?" he screams. "This will do you no good!"

"No, it won't Stygorr, but that collection of positive matter my husband has hurled at you will!"

Stygorr's eyes pop wide at Sue's words, but it quickly turns to laughter. "Bah! I can change my body from positive to anti-matter. They will do more harm than the anti-matter rocks you have hurled at me since we started." Behind Stygorr, Reed holds up the second container he pulled from the Fantasti-Car.

"You're right," Sue smiles, "unless, of course, all that positive and anti-matter hit you at the same time."

"Impossible," Stygorr scoffs.

"Not for me." Sue extends herself to her limits. Still holding Stygorr at bay, she grabs the two asteroids hurled by Thing and She-Hulk in mid-flight. Not wanting to find out how her invisible powers would react to contact with positive matter - even given the field-effect harness - Sue waits until the positive matter scrap metal comes close to Stygorr.

"Stop! Stop! I beg of you!" Stygorr screams. "I don't want to die again! I'll do whatever you want!"

"Frankly, I dont believe you." Sue says icily and she brings the asteroids in at the same speed to connect with Stygorr's body at the exact moment the scrap metal gets there. Stygorr tries to shift his body between states of positve and negative, but he doesn't do the task well enough to stop the -

KRA-BOOOOOOM!!!!

As the rock dust settles this time, purple energy can be seen floating in cloud. Reed extends his hands, holding the second container he took from the Fantasti-Car, forward. He presses a button on the side and places the container inside the cloud. The energy particles that make up the cloud are sucked into the container.

"Whoah, nice trick, Reed," She-Hulk enthuses.

"Yeah, Stretch, but why isn't he coming back together?" Ben asks. "How can you hold him in that- wait, nevermind, I don't want to hear you use all them big words."

"Let's go stop the assault on Baluur," Reed adds grimly.

PIER 4 - COMMON ROOM

Franklin sleeps the sleep of the innocent, HERBIE at his side, vigilant. Johnny was wrong, of course, the bot hadn't been put back together by Reed. It was Nathaniel's gift to Franklin. Like the HERBIE bots at the Storm Museum, this HERBIE has been completely outfitted with future technology.

A portal opens in the air and Thanos steps through. Alarms begin to go off all over the building, HERBIE begins whistling and beeping wildly.

"Warning. Warning. Return Franklin to safety and step away. Warning. Warning." HERBIE squeals at Thanos.

Thanos takes a step forward and HERBIE begins firing lasers and blasters at the Titan.

Thanos shrugs off the blasts, steps forward and blasts HERBIE to bits. He walks over to Franklin and picks him up into his arms, "Come, young god, it is time for you to be tested."

As he puts his first foot back into the portal, the Human Torch roars into the room. "Thanos?!?" he asks in shocked surprise. "What are you-?"

Turning back, Thanos sends a blast towards the Human Torch, hitting him square in the chest. As Thanos steps back into the portal, the world of the Human Torch goes black.

In a dying gasp, with his hand reaching toward the portal, Johnny can only mutter one thought, "Franklin ..."

END FF 424

NEXT ISSUE:

FANTASTIC FOUR # 425: It's anniversary issue time and we're pulling out all the stops! Thanos has Franklin, how long will the Titan take before he kills him?!? Can the Fantastic Four stop Blastaar and Annihilus?!? And if they can, what hope do they have against Thanos?!? All that and Firelord makes his move! But on which side will he fight?!? Be here for the planet shattering climax to FRANKLIN MUST DIE!!!

mbQ 1.28.98